Sluggers Set to Take On Raiders, Falcons

Forget about steroids.

Who needs ‘em? Here are some guys on the Harvard baseball team—which opens up its season this weekend—who can bandy the ball about any day, any place and without “the juice.”

Just take a look at the lineup. Three of them, Zak Farkes, Lance Salsgiver and Josh Klimkiewicz, combined to hit .319 with 19 home runs and 76 RBI in the middle of Harvard baseball’s batting order last year—as freshmen. Farkes’s eight home runs were good for second in the Ivy League.

And then there are the upperclassmen.

Last year, senior P/1B Trey Hendricks torched the Ivies for a .387 batting average, five home runs and a .623 slugging percentage. A 2003 first team All-Ivy, he’ll co-captain the Crimson this season.

Or how about junior Sky Mann? The catcher finished second on the team in runs and RBIs, with 31 and 29, respectively. He batted .306 and was voted second team All-Ivy.

Subtract only one graduated position player—former C/1B Brian Lentz ’03, now in the Seattle Mariners’ system—and throw in an extra year of seasoning, and you’ve got a lineup that’s not just good.

“It’s outstanding,” Mann said. “We have a lot of power, a lot of clutch hitters. As long as we stay away from too many strikeouts we can bust a game open.”

That’s right, the baseball team is back for its 144th year—older, even, than that one and only baseball poem “Casey at the Bat.” But hope, just like then, still “springs eternal.”

With a lineup core that’s ready to bust open a lot of games in 2004, Farkes said he thinks just about everything is in place for a run in the Ivies.

“We’ve just got to play solid defense and pitch,” he said. “We’re pretty confident we can score runs.”

Harvard will need to score a lot of runs this weekend during its first series of the year—a four-game set against Texas Tech (8-4) and Air Force (4-5) at Dan Law Field in Lubbock, Texas.

In tonight’s opener, the Crimson takes on a Red Raiders squad that features seven players batting over .300, has outscored its opponents 135-71 and is averaging a Texas-sized 11.25 runs per game.

It should end up a slugfest. The Texas Tech starters have a 5.52 ERA.

“I anticipate we’ll need to put some big numbers on the scoreboard,” Mann said.

Harvard then plays a doubleheader tomorrow, facing the Falcons in the morning and Texas Tech again in the afternoon. The Crimson finishes the weekend Sunday afternoon against Air Force.

There’s a reason Harvard players are excited about this season, and it’s not just because of a potential Murderers’ Row. With the recent warm weather, the team has been practicing outside for much longer than it had at this point last year.

“We do so much skill work indoors, we just want to get outside and play,” Farkes said about Boston’s typical cold spring. “I think the best thing you can do after that is get a lot of at-bats, play some [inter-squad] games. We’ve been doing that.”

The pitchers and the defense, especially, benefit from adjusting to the outdoors.

“We’ve got our rotation lined up, and our order’s pretty set,” Farkes said. “We’re so far ahead of the curve compared to last year.”

In addition, players have been competing hard for spots—especially in the pitching rotation. Outside of 6’5 senior righty Mike Morgalis, Hendricks and ambidextrous sophomore Matt Brunnig—who will fill out the 1-3 spots in the rotation this weekend—the pitching alignment has not been set until recently. Sophomore Frank Herrmann, who was not a starter last season, gets the call for the Sunday game against Air Force.

“From what I have seen,” said Mann, who has been catching the pitchers all spring. “Everyone is hungry to get the call from coach and [is] ready to perform for the team.”

From all indications, the pitching staff shouldn’t concern itself too much. With so much firepower up and down the Harvard lineup, the pressure’s off.

“Truthfully you never know who could come up big for us,” Mann said.

—Staff writer Alex McPhillips can be reached at rmcphill@fas.harvard.edu.