Seniors Spark Crimson's Weekend

The senior class carried the Harvard baseball team this weekend as four regulars and three pitchers left their mark in their last games at O'Donnell Field.

The elders kept the Crimson close in every game before younger reserves provided ninth-inning heroics in the rubber match of the Ivy League championship series against Princeton to give Harvard its third consecutive title in the Ancient Eight.

Peter Woodfork returned to second base in the second game after a sore elbow restricted him to designated-hitter duties while freshman Faiz Shakir filled in at second in the first game.

Woodfork robbed Princeton senior center fielder Jason Koonin of a base hit with a leaping catch just minutes after taking the field and made a diving save later in the game without aggravating his elbow.

"I felt comfortable," Woodfork said. "I could have played in the first game, too, but Coach didn't want me out there. I felt fine and I didn't have to make many throws which was good for my elbow."

Woodfork was even better at the plate. In the second game, trailing 7-3 and facing senior righthander Jeff Golden with the bases loaded and one out in the bottom of the ninth, he smacked a ground ball up the middle that drove in two runs to cut the lead in half. He reached third base and represented the tying run when junior designated hitter Jeff Bridich ended the game on a grounder to shortstop.

"I was just trying to hit the ball hard," Woodfork said. "I know I'm not a home run hitter but we needed runs and I had to do something with the bases loaded."

Woodfork also doubled and scored in the third inning. In the third game, he was three-for-five and, in the first game, he had two hits and an RBI.

But the star of the first game was Woodfork's classmate, catcher Jason Keck.

With the score knotted at 5-5 in the top of the sixth and the bases juiced, Keck ripped a double down the right field line against Princeton senior righthander Howard Horn.

In the bottom of the frame, with two runners on for Koonin, the Tiger leadoff hitter who homered in the second game, Keck caught a pitch from senior righthander Donny Jamieson and rifled it to Woodfork at second base to pick off Princeton junior catcher Buster Small and end the inning.

Keck and Woodfork outsmarted Princeton baserunners in the fourth inning of the second game. With Tigers at the corners, Princeton senior third baseman Chris Loving tried to swipe second base. Keck fired to Woodfork, who cut off the throw and returned the favor to Keck. That forced Tiger senior first baseman Matt Evans into a rundown between home and third, and it was fitting that Keck finally applied the tag.

Keck rose to the occasion in the third game, going three-for-four with one RBI. He started Harvard's title-winning rally in the top of the ninth when he singled to right field.

"In the bottom of the eighth while I was catching, I was thinking that this could be last game, and my last at-bat for Harvard," Keck said. "But then I blocked it out of mind. When I came up I just did the things at the plate that I always do--stay back and try to drive the ball up the middle."

Captain Hal Carey's biggest contribution came in the first game. The senior third baseman continued his tear at the plate, hitting his third home run in two games in the top of the fifth. That came after Princeton had grabbed a 5-2 lead and sparked a three-run rally that pulled the Crimson even.

Carey's four-bagger set the stage for senior center fielder Andrew Huling to double two batters later. He went two-for-three and reached base four times in the first game, scoring twice. He went two-for-five and scored a run in game three.

On the mound, Coach Joe Walsh turned to the Class of 1999 for the final five outs of the series. Righthander Andrew Duffell got the biggest victory of the season and senior Garett Vail came in for the last two outs to earn his third save of the season.

Those two outs were even more impressive considering that Vail had started the first game the day before. He went five-plus innings, allowing three earned runs while recording eight strikeouts against one walk.

"All of [the pitchers] who went Saturday told Coach that we were ready to go, so I wasn't surprised when I got put into the game," Vail said. "In a game like this, you worry about your arm later; the team comes first. The adrenaline was enough to get through it. Coming in I knew I would only throw a few pitches, so they had to be good ones."

Senior righthander Donny Jamieson relieved Vail in the first game. He turned in 3.1 innings, six strikeouts and one walk.

Confrontations of Frustration

Although it only lost two games this weekend, Princeton lost three different coaches to ejection. All three came at the hands of umpire Rick Santilli in the bottom of the ninth inning in the Tigers' losses in the first and third game.

Head Coach Scott Bradley got the thumb in the third game when Santilli was the plate umpire. He asked Santilli not to talk to his players, who were complaining about balls and strikes, and Bradley was tossed after demonstrating his dissatisfaction with Santilli's explanation.

The other two ejections came after the most important, and most surprising, defensive play of the series--when Walsh called for junior first baseman Erik Binkowski to charge home plate with the pitch as Woodfork wheeled from second to first base. Sophomore catcher Scot Hopps received the pitch and rifled the ball to Woodfork at first, where freshman left fielder Ryan Achterberg--who represented the tying run--was desperately sliding into the base. Santilli called him out.

Princeton third base coach Tom Crowley charged across the diamond to question the call--which killed any chance of a Tiger rally even though it was only the first out of the inning. Santilli ejected him. Bradley came out for a second conversation in as many days, but as he was walking back to the dugout, Santilli tossed Tiger first base coach Mark Gola.

Spring Showers

Keck's third at-bat in the second game, which had already been interrupted from the fifth inning after Princeton sophomore catcher Casey Hildreth gunned down Woodfork trying to steal second, was put on hold again in the bottom of the sixth for a 25-minute rain delay. Both teams rushed out to cover the infield with a tarp as the Crimson clung to a narrow 3-2 lead. Almost miraculously, the rain, which had been falling for several innings before the umpires stopped the game, disappeared completely and the battle for the Ancient Eight crown resumed.

That gave Princeton junior righthander Jason Quintana just enough rest. He turned in his longest performance of the season, 8.1 innings, and held Harvard scoreless until the bottom of the ninth.

Since the delay came during Harvard's half of the sixth, Crimson sophomore righthander John Birtwell, who shut out Princeton in seven innings on April 10, had to wait in the dugout for about an hour before returning to the mound for the top of the seventh. He had allowed two runs through six innings while striking out seven Tigers, but he did not have the same command after the delay.

Lennon replaced him with one out, two men on and the score deadlocked at three, but the Tigers rallied for two more before the inning was over.

"You never know how teams will come back from a rain delay," Walsh said. "Both teams are affected but the rain got to Birtwell before it could get to Quintana. In Game Two, we were getting ahead of their hitters but we made mistakes late in the count and it hurt us."