Baseball Comes Up Short in Ivy Opener, Drops Doubleheader to Columbia

NEW YORK—Coming into the Harvard baseball team’s doubleheader with Columbia (4-16, 2-0 Ivy) on Saturday, the Crimson (2-16, 0-2) found itself sharing the diamond with a kindred spirit, albeit for all the wrong reasons.

Each team arrived at the onset of the Ivy League season reeling from an extensive and difficult non-conference slate, and equipped with only two wins to its name and the sliver of hope that materializes when there is reason for optimism that the worst is over.

But while the Lions took the beginning of Ancient Eight play as a cue to change its season’s trajectory, Harvard trudged on, by itself, along the same downward slope.

The Crimson left Columbia’s Robertson Field on the wrong side of a sweep in Saturday’s twinbill, falling, 8-3, in Game 1 before dropping Game 2 by a score of 8-6.

The Harvard pitching staff battled ineffectiveness in the first contest, allowing the Lions to jump out to an early and insurmountable lead in the seven-inning game.

The nightcap initially appeared more promising for the Crimson, but shaky defense and an eighth-inning meltdown eventually sealed the team’s fate.

“We didn’t play well at all,” Harvard coach Joe Walsh said. “It was not a good day for us.”

COLUMBIA 8, HARVARD 6

After the Crimson defense allowed the Lions to climb back from a 3-1 deficit and force a tie with run-scoring errors in the fourth and fifth innings in the second game of Saturday’s doubleheader, Harvard’s pitching fell apart in the eighth, giving Columbia all it needed to complete its sweep.

Freshman starter Conner Hulse—who had given up just one earned run in his first seven innings of work—succumbed to fatigue in the eighth frame. Following a single and wild pitch, cleanup hitter Dean Forthun ripped a double down the left-field line to give Columbia a 4-3 lead and chase Hulse off the mound.

“[Hulse] worked his ass off,” said senior right fielder Tom Stack-Babich. “It looked like he got a little tired at the end, but I thought he did pretty well.”

Walsh brought in reliever Jonah Klees to stop the bleeding, but the rookie was unable to contain the Lions. With runners on second and third, Klees intentionally walked the bases loaded before yielding a three-run double. The Lions added an additional run in the frame and headed into final inning up 8-3.

“We have flashes of good stuff, and then we go and give up five-run innings,” a frustrated Stack-Babich said.

The Crimson managed to make things interesting with a two-out rally in the top of the ninth. Senior second baseman Taylor Meehan crushed a double to the gap in right-center, plating junior first baseman Dan Zailskas. Senior left fielder Matt Rogers came up next and belted a long fly ball into the wind that cleared the center-field fence to bring Harvard within two runs. But the comeback attempt fell short when Harvard captain Harry Douglas made the final out of the game on a sharp grounder to first base.

COLUMBIA 8, HARVARD 3

Pitching made all the difference in the Crimson’s Ivy League opener.

Harvard’s hurlers fell behind on counts throughout the game, opening the door for hard hits and costly walks.

Sophomore starter Dan Berardo, who has struggled mightily since his first start against Jacksonville State on March 6 garnered him Ivy League Pitcher of the Week honors, gave up back-to-back homers in the second inning before losing control of the strike zone in the third.

Berardo only managed to get through 2 2/3 innings of work and his replacement, freshman Marcus Way, did not fare any better.

Way entered the game after Berardo walked a run in with the bases loaded, giving Columbia a 3-2 lead, and immediately gave up a two-run double. Way then issued a pair of walks to force another runner in before getting out of the inning. But the damage was done, and the Lions entered the fourth frame with a 6-2 advantage that they would not relinquish.

“We have to cut down on giving up big innings,” Walsh said. “We’re having mental breakdowns.”

On the flipside, Columbia received its first of two solid outings by its starters on the day in the form of a complete-game, three-run effort by pitcher Joe Scarlata.

“I thought their pitchers pitched good,” Walsh said. “They threw a lot of sliders and we didn’t make adjustments.”

Douglas and Stack-Babich provided all of the Crimson’s production at the plate in Game 1. Douglas got Harvard on the board with a two-run double in the top of the second and Stack-Babich blasted a solo shot out to dead center in the third.

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