Unproven Staff Armed For Stretch Run

It took only one-third of an inning to turn Adam Cole’s season around. Coming into the second game of a doubleheader against Princeton on April 7, Cole had already given up six earned runs and 13 walks in 10 1/3 innings, and had lost his job in the starting rotation.

“It was real frustrating in the beginning,” Cole says. “I had a lot of control problems.”

But Harvard coach Joe Walsh wasn’t ready to give up on last season’s Ivy League Rookie of the Year just yet. With Harvard up, 6-2, with two outs in the top of the ninth inning and the bases full of Tigers, Walsh took the ball away from sophomore Ryan Watson, and sent Cole to the mound to exorcise his control demons in a situation where control was of the utmost importance.

The move seemed questionable at first, after Cole walked the first batter he faced to bring the score to 6-3. But the second-year fireballer’s next trio of pitches erased any doubt. Power-hitting Princeton catcher Jack Murphy stepped up to the plate, and Cole reared back and retired Murphy on three consecutive strikes to begin his transformation into a closer.

“Things just weren’t the same as last year,” Cole says. “After Coach put me in to get the save I got a lot of confidence back in my head.”

Now, almost two weeks later, Cole has emerged as a force out of the bullpen, and an important piece in a Harvard pitching staff that leads the Ivies with a 3.99 combined ERA.

Reclaiming his role as the ace of the Crimson rotation after struggling in the early going is junior Shawn Haviland, last season’s Ivy League Pitcher of the Year. Haviland has gone eight innings in each of his last two starts and has regained his trademark control. In last Saturday’s performance against Yale’s powerhouse offense, Haviland shut out the Bulldogs over eight frames, striking out seven and walking only one.

“Haviland is a strike thrower,” Walsh says. “That’s his M.O. The fact that he had a high-strikeout game the other day is a testament to the fact that he has three pitches going.”

Rounding out the weekend rotation are junior Brad Unger and freshmen Max Perlman and Eric Eadington. Unger has not only found the consistency that he lacked in his first two seasons, but has made a case for himself as one of the best pitchers in the Ancient Eight. His 1.98 ERA is second in the league, and he has held opposing hitters to a .300 slugging percentage.

Perlman, meanwhile, leads Harvard with three wins, and is coming off a complete-game, eight-strikeout victory over Yale on Saturday that earned him Ivy League Pitcher and Rookie of the Week honors.

Eadington has made an immediate impact as well, compiling 23 strikeouts in 22 2/3 innings of work. “Boomer,” as he is known in the locker room, is 1-0 with a 2.78 ERA in five appearances.

“You can’t say enough about [Perlman and Eadington],” Cole says. “We had expectations when they came in but I think they’ve surpassed those.”

But with Cole back to form, one might think that he would be clamoring to get his rotation spot back. On the contrary, he seems to relish his new role and the pressure that comes with it, as well as the opportunity to throw his best stuff on every pitch.

“It’s exciting coming in when the game is on the line,” Cole says. “You’ve got to hold that lead. Not having to hold back and being able to pump hard strikes is really a relief to me.”

Also thriving out of the bullpen is senior Jake Bruton. Bruton, who came into this season with a 6.50 career ERA, has found a niche as a long reliever with the ability to finish games. His varied pitching repertoire, highlighted by a knee-buckling curveball, has netted him 26 strikeouts in 21 innings.

“Every time he comes in, he puts out any fires and finishes the game for us,” Haviland says. “He’s gotten 10 times better since last year.”

The strength of the bullpen is also bolstered by junior Max Warren and rookie Dan Zailskas, who have come up big in spot starts and relief stints. Warren has not allowed a run in eight innings pitched, while Zailskas posted a solid six-inning effort in a road win against Rhode Island last Tuesday.

With no real holes in the rotation, and bullpen depth unseen anywhere else in the Ivies, the Crimson pitching staff has moved past its early struggles and established itself as arguably the best in the Ancient Eight. At the halfway point of the Ivy schedule, that’s bad news for the rest of the league.

—Staff writer Loren Amor can be reached at lamor@fas.harvard.edu.