Baseball Sweeps Defending Ivy Champs

For the first time this season, the Harvard baseball team played the way its players knew it could, picking up consecutive two-game sweeps to open its Ivy League season.

Behind strong pitching, solid defense and a newly-ignited offensive attack, the Crimson (7-11, 4-0) decisively snapped a three-game losing streak with vastly improved play in victories over Princeton and Cornell.

“Our defense has stepped up immeasurably from last year, making diving plays,” said sophomore Marc Hordon, whose club made only one error in four weekend games. “We always knew we’d have pretty dominant pitching. Now that the hitting is coming around, we feel pretty good.”

The Crimson will next travel to Holy Cross on Wednesday at 3 p.m.

Harvard 6, Cornell 2

A stellar pitching performance from Hordon put the final exclamation point on a breakout weekend for the Crimson.

In his first trip to the mound in more than two weeks, Hordon (1-1) allowed no earned runs on five hits while striking out nine in eight innings.

It was the third time in four Ivy games that Harvard’s starter has gone at least seven innings.

“It felt absolutely awesome to get back on the mound, especially after not pitching for so long,” said Hordon, who continued to pitch after being hit by a pitch in the top of the seventh inning.

“It hurt and I lost some velocity on my fastball,” Hordon said. “But I was able to eek it out for the last two innings.”

Senior third baseman Nick Carter led the way at the plate with a double and three RBI, while senior right fielder Javy Lopez added a double and a single.

Freshman A.J. Solimine relieved Hordon in the ninth, allowing two hits and one earned run in one inning of relief to drop the Big Red to 6-13

(0-2) on the season.

Harvard 12, Cornell 7

The Crimson offense pounded out 17 hits and junior Barry Wahlberg threw five scoreless innings of relief to give the Crimson the win in the 11-inning marathon.

With the score tied 7-7 in the top of the 11th, Harvard erupted for five runs to take the game.

Those five runs were more than the Crimson had scored in 14 of its previous 17 games.

“Some people were panicking about our hitting and our record,” Hordon said. “But I was always confident and the rest of the guys were always confident that the talent was there. We knew we’d put it all together.”

After a wild first five innings that chased three Harvard pitchers—including starter Madhu Satyanarayana—Wahlberg entered the game with the score tied at 7-7. The righty quickly silenced the Big Red, allowing only three hits over the next five innings to earn his first win of the season.

Nine different Crimson batters contributed hits, while six posted extra-base hits in the contest.

Senior second baseman Faiz Shakir led the way with three singles and two RBI. Five other Harvard players posted multi-hit games.

Harvard 5, Princeton 2

Senior Ben Crockett recovered from a shaky start to post another strong performance and earn the victory.

Crockett (2-1) rebounded from a two-run first inning to shut out the Tigers through his final seven innings of work. Crockett scattered nine hits while striking out eight in eight innings before being relieved by Wahlberg.

Wahlberg allowed one hit while striking out two to pick up the staff’s first save of the season and complete the sweep.

“I didn’t really know what to expect (when the team was struggling),” freshman Schuyler Mann said. “But a lot of the older guys said that we would come together and we did. It feels good to be winning.”

With the score tied at 2-2 after three innings, Harvard rallied for three runs over the next two to take the game.

With two outs in the fourth, junior centerfielder Bryan Hale doubled to drive in Lopez. Lopez had reached on a double to center.

The Crimson added to its lead in the fifth. Mager rapped his second double of the game to lead off the inning and scored on an RBI single by Hordon. Carter then drove in Hordon with a single to center.

The Tigers outhit the Crimson 10-8, but stranded 12 runners. Junior David Boehle (1-2) took the loss for Princeton (8-14, 4-2).

Harvard 4, Princeton 2

Behind a solid complete-game performance from senior Justin Nyweide (2-2) and a two-run home run from Mager, the Crimson won its Ivy opener over the two-time defending league champion Tigers.

With Harvard ahead 1-0 in the top of the third, Mager turned on a 2-0 offering from Princeton starter Ryan Quillian (0-3) for his first home run since his freshman season.

Senior right fielder Andrew Brunswick, who had reached on an error, also scored on the play.

The three runs was all Nyweide would need. The righthander allowed only five hits while striking out five in seven innings of work. Nyweide also walked five Tigers.

The Tigers cut the lead to 3-1 in the bottom of the third on an RBI-double from freshman centerfielder Adam Balkan, but the Crimson picked up an insurance run in the fourth.

Sophomore catcher Mickey Kropf doubled to right to leadoff the inning, and then advanced to third on a wild pitch by Quillian. Lopez lifted a sacrifice fly to center field to plate Kropf and stretch Harvard’s lead to 4-1.

Lopez also drove in the Crimson’s first run when his second-inning double scored Hordon.