Castellano Shines in Loss to BC

BOSTON—On Friday afternoon, shadows danced around the plate and temperatures dipped into the 30s—not, in other words, optimal hitting conditions for the Harvard baseball team’s game against Boston College.

Not surprisingly, the Crimson’s bats went into a freeze against crafty Eagles lefty Mike Wlodarczyk, and the Crimson (13-10-1) lost a 3-2 pitchers’ duel at BC’s Shea Field.

Wlodarczyk pitched 6 2/3 strong innings in his second start for the Eagles (13-17-0), lowering his team-worst 15.12 ERA by more than six runs. Boston College first baseman Ryan Morgan provided the scoring for the home team with a first-inning two-run homer and a sac fly in the fifth.

“Losing to these guys is always tough because they’re the cross-town rivals for us,” Harvard head coach Joe Walsh said. “To get this close, you want to finish it off.”

Disappointment, however, did little to overshadow a strong outing by Harvard starter Javier Castellanos. The 6’2 sophomore from Hialeah, Fla. gave Crimson pitching a huge boost going into the weekend with eight innings of three-run ball, scattering nine hits and striking out four in a complete game.

“It felt good to go out there and pitch eight innings,” Castellanos said. “I had my slider and changeup going well. They were pretty much on all game.”

Unfortunately, the three runs were all Boston College would need. Wlodarczyk, with a deceptive delivery from the left side and with the help of shadows cast by an adjacent Alumni Stadium—“it was definitely pretty tough to see out there,” sophomore right-fielder Lance Salsgiver said—fooled Harvard hitters with a blend of craft and consistency.

“He’s kind of sneaky fast,” said Salsgiver, who had two hits and a stolen base for the Crimson. “He has a real smooth, easy delivery that, when it comes out of his hand, kind of jumps at you. I think a lot of guys had trouble with that.”

Harvard had a chance to tie in the top of the ninth with a late, two-out rally. Down 3-1 at the start of the inning, and with the first two batters failing to reach base, sophomores Frank Herrmann, who walked, and Chris Mackey, who singled, converted in pinch-hitting appearances at the bottom of the order.

That brought up Salsgiver, the leadoff hitter. The sophomore from Davison, Mich. roped a single to right-center, scoring Herrmann from second and cutting the deficit to 3-2.

“With [sophomore Zak Farkes] and [senior Trey Hendricks] coming up,” Salsgiver said, “We definitely could have had a chance. Today, it just didn’t work out.”

Farkes got tied up on a low breaking ball and was called out on strikes to end the game.

“That’s baseball,” Walsh said. “It’s a game of inches, and you can’t wait for the ninth inning to get things going.”

The loss dropped Harvard to 4-10 on the road, and 6-9-1 in non-conference games. The Crimson is undefeated at home.

NOTES: Harvard sophomore first baseman Josh Klimkiewicz was back in the lineup for the first time in nearly three weeks. Klimkiewicz, last year’s team leader in RBI, had been out since a March 27 doubleheader against Northeastern with a hamstring injury. He had one hit in four at-bats Friday....Harvard suffered another bad injury on Friday, this time to sophomore shortstop Morgan Brown. Brown pulled his quadriceps running to first after a pass ball on a strikeout in the top of the seventh. “You lose your shortstop going into the weekend, that’s not good,” Walsh said...Friday’s game was interrupted by a scary moment in the bottom of the second, when Boston College second baseman Josh DiScipio lined a shot up the middle that hit umpire Ed McDonough. McDonough stayed down on the ground for nearly 20 minutes before being carted off the field.

He was fine after treatment.

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

—Staff writer Pablo S. Torre can be reached at torre@fas.harvard.edu.