Baseball Takes on Pepperdine in NCAA Regionals

The final exam for Professor of History William Gienapp's History 1653, "Baseball and American Society" course is over. Now Harvard baseball's real final exam can begin.

The Crimson (28-18, 16-4 Ivy) opens its third straight trip to the NCAA tournament tonight in Los Angeles against No. 12 Pepperdine, in the opening round of regional play at USC's Dedeaux Field.

The Waves (43-14) are the first obstacle for a baseball program that has enjoyed a four-year renaissance under Coach Joe Walsh, and is seeking its first College World Series appearance since 1974. This is Harvard's 12th appearance in tournament play, where the Crimson is 23-22.

Top of the Ivy

A trifecta of Ivy League honorees paces the Crimson. Senior center fielder Andrew Huling won Player of the Year after batting .401 with five home runs and 51 RBI, plus contributing as the best defensive outfielder in the league.

Sophomore righthander John Birtwell, who finished 4-4 with a 2.72 ERA but posted only one loss in the Ivy regular season, won Pitcher of the Year after narrowly losing the ERA crown to Princeton sensation Chris Young.

Birtwell figures to start the Crimson's first elimination game this weekend, as he did last year in Baton Rouge, La., when he pitched 7.1 innings of an eventual 6-5 win over Nicholls State.

Freshman righthander Ben Crockett (5-1, 4.88) shared Rookie of the Year with Young and will in all likelihood work long relief, giving way to seniors Garett Vail and Donny Jamieson. Jamieson, who began the season in the bullpen, was pressed into a starting role when classmate Andrew Duffell sprained his elbow in April.

Jamieson (5-0, 5.00) got relief wins in both of the Crimson's NCAA victories last season, and Walsh said he would use that trio--Vail, Birtwell and Jamieson--in his starting rotation. Crockett could also make a Game 4 start.

Here's a look at Harvard and Pepperdine's company in the Los Angeles bracket:

Defending Champions

USC (33-23) will host its first regional since 1991 and bid for a repeat College World Series championship. In 1998, the No. 14 Trojans used 23 hits and a ninth-inning grand slam by outfielder Jason Lane to dispatch Pac-10 rival Arizona State in a 21-14 slugfest.

The Trojans have maintained that power hitting pace, with 84 home runs this season and five starters in double figures.

Lane is USC's statistical leader once again, batting .365 with 19 home runs and 66 RBI, all team highs. Lane is also slugging .810.

The Trojans were ranked No. 1 in both Baseball America and Baseball Weekly's preseason polls, before a smattering of injuries sapped them early, leading to a 4-11 start. USC had its starting lineup intact for only three of its first 20 games.

Junior catcher Eric Munson, likely to be the first or second pick in next month's amateur draft, missed more than a month of the season after a foul tip March 27 against Washington State cost him a broken bone in his right hand.

Munson, widely regarded as the best defensive catcher in college baseball, batted .392 with 16 home runs and 56 RBI in 1998, and in limited action this year is hitting .312 with 12 home runs and 36 RBI.

Lane missed eight games with a broken thumb, and shortstop Seth Davidson (.356, 34 RBI) sat five games with a pulled quadriceps.

The Trojans' staff is strong one-two but tapers off, featuring Pac-10 Pitcher of the Year Barry Zito, 11-2 with a 3.46 ERA, plus 141 strikeouts in 96.1 innings. The lefthander Zito has won 10 straight starts and headlines a staff that averages 13.2 strikeouts per nine innings.

Justin Lehr is 6-2 with a 4.48 ERA and 95 strikeouts in 98.1 innings, while workhorse Rik Currier, who has appeared in a team-high 26 games, is 6-8 with a 5.61 ERA.

Sweet Virginia

Virginia Commonwealth, the region's No. 3 seed, finished 40-18 and received an at-large bid. The Rams are a Harvard-styled run-and-gun squad, with no starter hitting better than nine home runs.

But VCU boasts a .397 on-base percentage and has stolen 98 bases in 139 attempts, and averages over seven runs per game.

Cory Bauswell is the resident power hitter, with a .320 batting average, nine home runs and 52 RBI. Jake Anthony hits .402 with eight home runs and 49 batted in. Anthony has 78 hits plus 28 walks for an on-base percentage of .518.

The Rams make their living by scrapping and by holding opponents to a .256 average behind three bedrock starters--Jason Dubois (9-3, 3.12), Marc Fisher (9-3, 3.93) and John Korn (8-4, 4.46). All have logged at least 100 innings of work.