Baseball Eliminated From NCAA Tournament By Missouri

FULLERTON, Calif.—The afternoon was too pleasant, too breezy, to host the finality of defeat.

And yet in the 16-hour interim that spanned last night’s NCAA Regional blowout by Cal State Fullerton and today’s elimination showdown with Big 12 foe Missouri, the Harvard baseball team never found a way to stop the bleeding.

The Crimson (29-17) did find a way to score—but the Tigers (40-22) shut the door on the 2005 Harvard season with 20 hits in a commanding 14-6 win.

“It’s going to be tough to swallow,” Harvard coach Joe Walsh said. “Nobody came down here with the idea that we just wanted to be in the tournament. We wanted to make a few upsets, get a couple of ‘Ws’ under our belt, and see what happened after that.”

Missouri exploited a vulnerable Harvard defense early, and from inning one to the game’s conclusion, battered Crimson pitchers behind a hail of hits and runs.

A total of 11 innings separated Harvard pitching’s last scoreless frame in Game 1—the second inning of its loss to Fullerton—and Missouri’s scoreless fifth, the Tigers’ first failure to score today.

First baseman Derek Chambers did most of the damage for Missouri, finishing the day four-for-five with three RBI. Six hitters in a deep Tigers lineup had multi-hit days.

“Even watching them take batting practice,” Harvard captain Schuyler Mann said, “I wasn’t expecting too much from them. But they did a great job of hitting good pitches, pitches down and away, and also hitting mistakes.”

Walsh maintained that Missouri’s real strength was a supremely balanced lineup.

“I looked and saw they had a 40-man squad,” Walsh said. “I’ve got 5 recruits this year. When you see these teams with the big squads that can run six to seven lefthanders out there and six to seven right-handers—I mean, we would’ve elected to have done that against [Fullerton slider specialist Wes Roemer] last night.”

Frank Herrmann (5-2) took the loss, allowing 10 hits, three walks and nine earned runs in just two and two-thirds innings. Herrmann failed to escape trouble early, and frequently fell behind in counts.

“He threw a lot of pitches early in the ballgame and that’s not like him,” Walsh said.

Early on, Herrmann received little help from his defense.

Tigers second baseman Trevor Helms led off the game with an infield ground-ball single into the glove of diving Crimson shortstop Morgan Brown—a solid play, followed by plenty of trouble.

Derek Chambers, the next batter, grounded a single through the left side of the infield. On the ensuing throw from left field, Crimson senior Ian Wallace airmailed the cutoff for a two-base error, scoring Helms.

Later in the inning, Wallace misjudged a low fly ball to left—“I don’t think he picked it up off the bat right away,” Walsh said—allowing two more runs to score. In the first inning, the Tigers put four runs on the board overall.

Herrmann struck out four in the first three innings, but never quite escaped trouble. Just when he appeared to gain confidence—in the third inning, he coolly rung up Missouri batters Jacob Priday and Tyler Williams—the Tigers bats struck back, as they did with two more two-out runs that inning.

Herrmann also committed two balks in first-and-third situations, both of which led to runs.

“He seemed a little more worried about the runner at first getting the jump,” Walsh said. “Those hurt.”

The Crimson used five pitchers in all. Only Matt Brunnig, who provided ninth-inning relief with the team behind 14-4, converted a 1-2-3 inning during the game. Not once last night did Harvard down all three Titans in a single inning.

Missouri starter Erik Dessau (5-1) got the start in favor of as many as four other probable Tigers starters, and earned the win with five strong innings, allowing four runs—only one was earned—and striking out three.

Freshman centerfielder and San Diego native Matt Vance, making his Southern California homecoming, thrilled a personal cheering section among a smattering of spectators with three of the Crimson’s 14 hits and a run.

In their last career games, seniors Ian Wallace—who went three-for-four—and Mann combined for four hits.

Nonetheless, despite the solid offensive output, Harvard never pulled closer than the 7-3 deficit it faced in inning two.

After the final out, a called third strike against Mann, Harvard shook hands with Missouri and gathered in front of its own dugout for a customary last team meeting.

“I just kind of told them that it’s real easy just to dwell on these and let them linger,” Walsh said. “You’ve got to shake it off.”

As the team packed up and strolled outward, teammates looked back on Goodwin Field for a last time. Some peeked upwards at the cloudless blue sky, dragging their equipment bags behind them.

As Fullerton and Arizona delegations regrouped from tailgating to watch the Goodwin Field nightcap, the handful of Harvard fans present—parents, relatives, friends—casually emptied the stadium.

With that, the Crimson disembarked for Boston.

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