Harvard Kicks Off 2006

The Crimson is headed straight from the snows to the swamps.

The Harvard baseball team takes the field for the first time this season today in the opener of a three-game set against Florida (11-6) in Gainesville. Coach Joe Walsh’s unproven Crimson squad is wasting no time in testing its mettle against the country’s best; the Gators currently stand at No. 15 in the new Baseball America poll, after finishing last season at No. 2 and ranking in the national Top Five as recently as last week.

Upset-minded Harvard, for its part, is unfazed by the status of its opponent.

“If you want to be the best, you have to play the best,” Walsh said. “We’re going to play as strong baseball teams as we can in the country. We’re looking for national respect all the time. And the way you get national respect is by beating nationally-ranked teams. Not just playing them, but getting a win.”

One major reason for Florida’s recent slide has been injury trouble. All-America slugger Matt LaPorta, the Division I home run leader a season ago, has been sidelined for the past several weeks and a number of other key players are also on the shelf.

“With Florida, they’re looking to win and get things turned around for them,” Walsh said. “They have a couple guys out of their lineup who we might not see. You take [LaPorta’s] bat out of any lineup, it’s going to hurt you.”

The Crimson, however, has been stung by the injury bug too. Centerfielder Matt Vance will be forced to DH due to a shoulder complaint, reshuffling the Harvard outfield. Freshmen Matt Rogers and Tom Stack-Babich will start in center and left, respectively.

“We’re looking to find out what kind of a ball club we have,” Walsh said, “and who’s going to play where and how some guys are going to get their season going.”

Other uncertainties in the lineup as the season approached have also been resolved. Sophomore Shawn Haviland, freshman Adam Cole, and senior Javier Castellanos emerged as the starting hurlers for this weekend, and they will be throwing to junior Andrew Casey, who earned the job behind the plate.

Cole, a rookie making his collegiate debut, and Castellanos, a Florida native, will both be looking to make an impression in their first action of the season.

“Once the guys who might not have had as much experience pitching in the past get some innings out there and Coach Walsh figures out what everyone’s place on the staff is…I think there’s a lot of potential on the staff,” Cole said.

The Crimson sees itself as one of the top teams in New England and is eager to measure itself against a storied program from a baseball hotbed like Florida. But climate and conference concerns play a major role in this meeting. The Gators, to their decided advantage, already have 17 games under their belts, playing in the warmer weather of the Southeast and without the late starting dates Ivy League teams are forced to negotiate.

Harvard, conversely, is still shaking off a winter’s worth of rust and remains unaccustomed to playing outdoors after conducting its practices in the gym.

“We might be catching them at a time when they have a couple of injuries,” Walsh said. “But I’m more worried about their pitching—seeing how our hitters are going to react, because we just haven’t seen any live pitching at this point.”

Despite the disadvantages, the Crimson is no stranger to early-season showdowns with daunting foes. Last season, Harvard knocked off eventual tournament teams St. John’s and Minnesota in the Metrodome in Minneapolis. The year before, it was drubbed by a combined score of 48-14 in a doubleheader with Texas Tech in Lubbock.

“We’re going to walk onto that field, and we’re going to feel very confident,” Walsh said. “[Last year in our] first week coming out of the gym, we did really well. I don’t know how we’re going to fare, but I’m anxious to go down there.”

—Staff writer Jonathan Lehman can be reached at jlehman@fas.harvard.edu.