Notebook: Birtwell's Swansong Came Much Too Soon

Sitting in the dugout yesterday, Harvard Coach Joe Walsh was forced to acknowledge one of the harsher implications of the Crimson's elimination from the Ivy League playoffs.

"Johnny Birtwell finished his career [today]," Walsh said sullenly. "He'll probably be hounding me for the ball Tuesday or Wednesday [in the Beanpot], but he threw a lot of pitches today."

So it appears there will be no curtain call for the Harvard senior righthander.

And that's a terrible shame. After toiling tirelessly for four years, Birtwell had earned a more glorious ending than the devastating extra-innings loss he was handed yesterday.

For Birtwell-who sparkled in the NCAA Tournament as a freshman and sophomore-there will be no return to the national stage.

Birtwell deserved better.

In the two years since he won Ivy Pitcher of the Year honors as a sophomore, Birtwell has been every bit as effective as he was then. His record this year is the same as it was in 1999, and his ERA is .11 lower.

But even as the Walpole, MA native has continued to do his part, Harvard has never quite equaled its success of two years ago.

And now, as Birtwell and the rest of his senior class departs, Harvard is yet another year removed from the success of 1999.

The risk, of course, is that the Crimson's younger players will forget what it takes to succeed at the highest level.

But there is no such danger with Walsh's club. Birtwell, the team's elder statesman this year, has made sure of it.

If nothing else, that is his legacy.

With the Harvard weekend rotation as talented as it has been this year, the claim has been made that the Crimson doesn't have a true ace.

That may be so to an extent. Junior Justin Nyweide has a lower ERA than Birtwell. Junior Ben Crockett has more strikeouts.

But to the extent that an ace is a leader, Birtwell has owned that role unquestionably.

Usually, it's tough for a non-everyday player to play a leading role, but Birtwell defied that convention. Even on days when he wasn't scheduled to pitch, no one was louder with his cheers than Birtwell.

The Crimson is a team that never sits in its dugout. The players stand so close to the field in order to cheer on their teammates that many an umpire has been forced to kindly request that they take a few steps back. Throughout his career, Birtwell was a fixture at the head of that group.

Yesterday, with the game tied in extra innings, Birtwell did everything he could to inspire the offense. In the bottom of the ninth, he even went up and down Harvard's bench, turning his teammates' caps sideways in hopes of inciting a rally.

If it was at all possible to will a win, Birtwell would have come out victorious yesterday. But after banging out 46 hits in their three previous games, the Harvard bats fell asleep for Birtwell. The Crimson mustered just five hits off Dartmouth freshman Tim Grant.

Grant will be hard-pressed to match Birtwell's feats over the next three years, but for one day at least, he could say say he got the better of him. Fate, it seemed, was on his side.

In the bottom of the ninth, Harvard outfielder Joe Llanes drilled what appeared to be a game-winning homer to left field, but the ball got caught up in the wind and instead went for a long out.

Then, in the Dartmouth half of the tenth, outfielder Derek Draper's one-out bunt straddled the line but stayed fair, and a double by shortstop Matt Klentak brought him home to give the Big Green the lead, and ultimately the win.

It was a tough-luck loss and an even tougher way to end a career. But Birtwell has no regrets.

"I was just happy to make it this far," Birtwell said. "The thing I'll miss most around here is the people. Without these guys, playing baseball just won't be as fun."

If there is any justice, yesterday's loss won't be the last time Birtwell takes the mound.

"I hope his next game will be in professional baseball," Walsh said yesterday. "He deserves a shot."

As the Harvard players milled around between games yesterday-their playoff hopes dashed-Birtwell went up to each one of his fellow seniors and offered them some encouragement. He even managed to crack a few smiles.

It almost seemed as if he forgot that his own Harvard career had come to a close, too. It was quintessential Birtwell, sporting an ice pack on his shoulder and his heart on his sleeve.

So don't let anyone tell you Harvard didn't have an ace this year. The Crimson did, and he just pitched his last college game yesterday.

Going out on top?

Birtwell may not have been the only Crimson pitcher to throw his last game yesterday.

With his amazing no-hitter in the second game yesterday, Crockett may have said his own farewell to O'Donnell Field.

The highly-touted junior is expected to be taken in this June's amateur draft. Whether he chooses to sign or not remains to be seen.

"I imagine [I'll be back]," Crockett said, but then added, "I can't say anything for sure. We'll see what happens."

If his stock was high before his outing yesterday, Crockett can only be considered a red-hot prospect now.

With no small number of scouts in attendance yesterday, Crockett was dazzling, facing the minimum number of batters while fanning a career-high 14 batters. His fastball was lively as usual, but it was his breaking ball especially that left Dartmouth baffled.

"I had the curveball going pretty good," Crockett said. "I got them to chase the ball."

If he does leave, Crockett would be the second Ivy League hurler in as many years to leave school early. Last spring, Princeton's Chris Young elected to make the jump to the pros after getting drafted by the Pittsburgh Pirates.

Decisions, decisions

Twice this weekend, Dartmouth third baseman Brian Nickerson strode to the plate in the late innings with the game on the line.

Twice Harvard made the wrong decision on how to pitch to him.

In the eighth inning on Saturday, Nickerson stepped to the plate representing the tying run in a 5-2 ballgame.

Walsh trotted to the mound and made the call for a first-pitch changeup.

Nyweide followed orders, and Nickerson promptly bashed the off-speed pitch over the left field fence for a three-run homer to tie the game.

Walsh took full responsibility for the decision yesterday.

"That's my regret right there," Walsh said. "It was a bad call-I called it."

Before the fateful at-bat, Birtwell had been playing catch lightly in the Harvard bullpen, seemingly ready to enter the game if called upon. But he did not get the call until one inning later.

"Nyweide had pitched real well and deserved that opportunity to face [Nickerson]," Walsh said. "I liked the match-up there because Nyweide had three pitches [fastball, change-up, and curve] going."

Harvard was forced to deal with Nickerson again at a critical point in the early game yesterday.

With the Crimson two outs away from nailing down a 2-1 victory, Nickerson came up with the tying run at second. After a lengthy discussion with Birtwell on the mound, Walsh made the decision to challenge Nickerson-who had already gone 2-for-3 on the day-rather than pitch around him.

"We didn't want to pitch around Nickerson because you'd be putting what would have been the go-ahead run on. You had to pitch to him," Walsh said. "I just told [Birtwell]... to make him chase a bad pitch. And if he did lose [Nickerson], I thought we could get the next guy."

Birtwell did lose Nickerson, leaving a pitch too far over the plate that Nickerson crushed for an RBI-double to tie the game 2-2.

Dartmouth went on to win in extra frames.

Odds and ends

By dropping both of Saturday's games at Dartmouth, the Crimson was swept in a doubleheader for the first time this year...

Nyweide's nine strikeouts on Saturday were a career-high...

Walsh said that had Saturday's second game gone deep into extra innings, he would have let Birtwell-who entered the game in the top of the ninth-pitch as long as necessary and then spot-started someone else yesterday. ...

A perennial Crimson killer, Nickerson drove a stake through Harvard's heart this weekend. The senior third baseman all but sewed up All-Ivy honors, going 8-for-13 with a homer and five RBI in the Big Green's three wins this weekend. He also made no fewer than three spectacular plays in the infield, including a diving, over-the-head catch on a foul pop on Saturday....

With the league title on the line, neither Harvard nor Dartmouth gave anything away in the field this weekend. The two teams combined for just three errors in the four-game series.