Saturday Split Dooms Title Chances

HANOVER, N.H.—Coming into Saturday’s doubleheader against Dartmouth, the Harvard baseball team had relied on its pitching staff to run up a 10-6 record in the Ivy League record and climb to second place in the Red Rolfe Division. On Saturday, those pitchers were reliable in the first game, but faltered in the nightcap, forcing a split with the Big Green and all but dashing the Crimson’s playoff hopes.

Harvard fell, 9-6, in game two after taking the first contest, 4-0, at Red Rolfe Field in Hanover, N.H.

Division-leading Brown beat Yale twice Saturday to take a two-game lead over the Crimson with two games remaining.

“A split is not what we needed,” Harvard coach Joe Walsh said. “We needed two. It’s disappointing.”

Junior Brad Unger allowed eight runs in 2 2/3 innings in game two, and the Harvard offense could not manage enough runs to mount a comeback.

In the first game, a stellar pitching performance by freshman Max Perlman baffled Dartmouth’s hitters, while the Crimson batters produced timely runs to secure the victory.

DARTMOUTH 9, HARVARD 6

After getting two quick outs to start the first inning, Unger was hit in the arm by a scorching line drive off the bat of Big Green center fielder Damon Wright.

The Crimson coaches came out to check on Unger, but he appeared all right and stayed in the game. From that point on, though, Unger was never able to find his groove.

Dartmouth freshman phenom Nick Santomauro came up next and hit a double to right field past a diving Tom Stack-Babich, moving Wright to third.Big Green third baseman Raymond Allen followed with a two-run single.

Harvard had a chance to kill the Dartmouth rally on the next play, when Andrew Nacario grounded to Crimson junior Steffan Wilson at third. But the ball slipped under Wilson’s glove, rolling into left field and continuing the inning.

“That was an out there,” Walsh said. “We could have gotten Brad out of there. That opened it up a bit and made it tough to come back.”

The Big Green would tack on another run to end the inning with a 4-0 lead.

Unger was touched up for additional runs in the second and third innings, and he was pulled from the mound after walking three straight in the third.

“I couldn’t locate my fastball,” Unger said. “I was getting behind some guys, having trouble getting inside on righties.”

Senior Jake Bruton came on in relief, giving up a two-run single before ending the inning.

Facing a large early deficit for the second time in three games, down 8-1 after three frames, Harvard again found itself in too deep a hole.

The Crimson rallied in the top of the seventh for three runs, including a two-run double by Stack-Babich.

After scoring another run in the eighth, Harvard threatened again in the final inning. But with a runner on and two outs, and with the score at 9-6, junior shortstop Jeff Stoeckel flied out to right to end the Crimson threat.

“We had a lot of opportunities but nothing really came our way,” Walsh said. “We were down so much it was tough to come back.”

HARVARD 4, DARTMOUTH 0

The Big Green could not find an answer for Perlman in game one. The rookie threw a seven-inning complete-game three-hitter, facing only two batters over the minimum.

“Perlman put [Dartmouth] in his back pocket,” Walsh said. “It was an outstanding effort.”

Perlman had a perfect game broken up with two outs in the fourth when Wright snuck a seeing-eye single past a diving Stoeckel. But senior catcher Andrew Casey threw a strike to second base to catch Wright stealing and end the inning.

Perlman only allowed one runner past first base, when Santomauro singled in the fifth and advanced on a passed ball.

Perlman showed pinpoint control in his shutout gem, using his blazing fastball to strike out five while walking none.

“They were behind on the fastball all day,” he said.

The Crimson gave Perlman all the run support he needed in the second. Sophomore outfielder Matt Rogers doubled with one out and moved to third on a Stack-Babich single. Stoeckel contributed an RBI groundout and Casey singled home Stack-Babich to give Harvard a 2-0 lead.

Wilson padded the lead in the fifth with a two-run homer. The tape-measure shot soared over the 365-foot sign in left-center field, landing next to a house across the street from the field.

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