No Front-Runner at No. 4

Against No. 16 Wichita State last Sunday, head coach Joe Walsh put the fate of the third game of the series in the hands of sophomore Jonathan Strangio, an untested right-hander who had never thrown a single pitch in a Crimson uniform.

Facing a potent lineup, Strangio lasted four innings and gave up six earned runs. Though he struggled in the outing, Strangio has impressed his coach this preseason.

“He’s come on like gangbusters,” Walsh says. “He’s 87, 88 with the fastball, throwing it for strikes. He’s got a nice little splitfinger pitch.”

Strangio is one of a handful of Harvard pitchers competing for the fourth spot in the starting rotation. Though the sophomore appears to be the frontrunner, the slot is still up for grabs. Before the Ivy League schedule begins, Walsh will test out a number of hurlers in an attempt to find one that can seize the starting role.

“We’re going to be working a lot of guys in that spot,” Walsh says. “We may go with throwing five guys two innings. I’ve done it before, it’s worked. Just throwing it out there until we get somebody that can catch on fire.”

One pitcher who could catch on fire at any moment is junior Adam Cole. Cole had a standout freshman campaign and was voted the Ivy League Rookie of the Year but struggled with control of his explosive fastball.

“The potential on the staff is Cole—if he can put it together, we don’t have a number four, we got a legit number one,” Walsh says. “If he could get into that starting role and throw strikes and win some games for us, holy cow, would that be a big difference.”

Right now, it doesn’t look like Cole will be stepping into the starting spot quite yet. First he must regain his eye for the strike zone, a task on which Cole and new pitching coach Aaron Landes have been working.

“For [Cole], it’s about throwing strikes,” senior starter Shawn Haviland says. “When he does, he’s the most dominant pitcher in the league, bar none.”

Despite the lurking question about the fourth starter, the squad remains confident that the position will settle itself.

“With the three of us it’s kind of wide open at the fourth slot,” Haviland says. “At this point it may just be a committee day.”

The Crimson currently has three definite starters returning to a staff that led the league with a 4.37 ERA last season. Haviland, the Ivy Pitcher of the Year in 2006, is the team’s ace. Eadington, a lefthander, will follow at the two, and senior Brad Unger will fill the number three slot. Eadington and Unger each recorded an ERA below four for Harvard in 2007.

“I feel real good about the three guys I got at the top,” Walsh says. “Who’s going to be there [on the] fourth day? Right now, it’s hodge and podge. We’re hoping somebody steps up.”

Coming into the season, Harvard thought its rotation was set in stone. However, due to discipinary events this offseason, sophomore star Max Perlman will not be with the team this year.

As a freshman last year, Perlman went 5-1 with a 2.91 ERA. His ERA and win total were tops among the starting rotation and earned him a spot on the All-Ivy Second Team.

“That’s a big loss—I miss him,” Walsh says. “The reason he’s not here at Harvard, I’m not in agreement with it, but I understand it. Losing him...is going to be real tough.”

With the loss of Perlman, the fourth spot opened for players like Strangio and Cole. Another player that Walsh thought had a serious shot at becoming a starter was flame-throwing freshman Greg Malley, whose fastball clocks in at over 90 mph. He, however, had double labrum surgery before the season and may not be able to step onto the diamond this spring.

“We’re being very careful with him and we’re not sure if he’ll be back this year,” Walsh said. “I thought with [Perlman] and Malley coming in, boy...we’re going to be ok. But they’re not here, they’re not healthy, so you got to deal with what you got.”

The entire pitching staff will be tested early against nationally ranked opponents. In these games, the Crimson hopes one of its pitchers will step up and take hold of the fourth spot. If not, Harvard may still be scraping for a starter come the beginning of the Ivy League season.

“It’s really going to be whoever’s throwing strikes,” captain Matt Vance said. “That four spot could change from week to week with whoever earns it. Your guess is as good as mine.”

—Staff writer Jake I. Fisher can be reached at jifisher@fas.harvard.edu.