Columbia Piles on Runs in Dominant Showing at O’Donnell Field

Whether it’s a blowout or a closer affair, the change in the win-loss column is the one figure that counts. For the Crimson, its two games progressed differently, but in the end, both meant the same thing.

Harvard (10-17, 4-4 Ivy), playing against Columbia (15-13, 6-2 Ivy) at O’Donnell Field yesterday, lost both games of its doubleheader with the Lions. In the first game, the Crimson never had a chance, falling behind, 9-0, after three innings and losing in an absolute rout by the score of 24-1 in the seven-inning contest.

In the last leg of the doubleheader, Harvard rebounded early and jumped to a 4-0 lead. But in the late innings, the bullpen faltered and the team fell again, 7-4, for the two-game sweep. The Crimson did not score after the third inning.

“We got our butts kicked,” Harvard coach Joe Walsh said. “They were a good-hitting ballclub today.”

COLUMBIA 7, HARVARD 4

After its trouncing in the first game, Harvard looked to regroup and contend for a series split.

In the first inning, it looked like the Crimson would be able to do just that. After starting pitcher Brent Suter struck out two in the opening frame, Harvard scored three runs—all with two outs—to take an early lead.

“Suter gave us a shot in the arm coming out, and we got the three runs in the first inning that boosted morale pretty well,” Walsh said.

The Crimson added one more in the third on junior Sean O’Hara’s RBI double to push the lead to four, and Suter shut out the Lions through five frames.

In the sixth, though, the Crimson starter seemed to tire, allowing his first runs of the game on a two-run home run from Columbia left fielder Dario Pizzano.

After the game, Walsh revealed that Suter pulled his triceps on the previous play while diving to field a slow grounder that went for an infield single. Suter managed to finish the inning, leaving the game with eight strikeouts and just two runs allowed.

But once the bullpen came into the game in the seventh, Harvard could not maintain its lead for more than a third of an inning.

“We had two or three innings there where we fell apart pitching-wise,” junior captain Tyler Albright said. “We just need to be able to close out games like that.”

After an RBI double from Nick Cox to tie the game, the Lions scored a pair on a Nick Ferraresi bases-clearing double to open up a one-run lead that they would not relinquish.

Sophomore Will Keuper, charged with all three seventh-inning runs, picked up the loss—his second of the season.

The Crimson allowed two more runs in the ninth inning, pushing the game to a three-run margin.

Though he admitted that the team was discouraged after the first game, Walsh would not attribute this second loss of the afternoon to the team’s mentality.

“It’s not always morale,” he said. “Sometimes it’s how you play the game.”

COLUMBIA 24, HARVARD 1

If Harvard had plated any other number of runs, the score of the day’s first contest would have read more like that of a football game.

The Lions scored in every frame, and after the team held a 6-0 second-inning lead, the game already appeared out of reach.

“We didn’t play well in the first game—that’s for sure,” Albright said. “We fell apart. Hitting, defense, and pitching weren’t there.”

Perhaps the game’s most compelling story was a bump in the road to recovery for junior starter Max Perlman, making his second start of the season after Tommy John surgery. Perlman increased his workload to 1.1 innings, allowing five earned runs—including a first-inning three-run home run.

“It’s been a while since he’s pitched,” Walsh said. “He’s had basically four innings in the last three years—three innings last year and [a one-inning appearance last weekend] under his belt.”

As the game progressed, the Lions continued piling on the offense. With a 19-run lead in the top of the seventh­—the game’s last inning­—Pizzano hit a grand slam off of freshman reliever Robert Wineski.

Columbia had 24 hits to match its run total in the game. The Crimson could manage only four, and magnified its troubles with three errors.

Harvard’s relief pitching also struggled with command, surrendering eight walks in the game.

“We couldn’t get ahead of guys, and when you can’t get ahead of hitters, you’re forced to throw fastballs,” Albright said. “They were clearly just waiting for a fastball to come right down the middle, and just geared up for it and hit it.”