Crimson Splits With Princeton in Opener

Harvard earned a narrow split during its first day of Ivy League play at Princeton on Saturday, losing a heartbreaker in extra innings in the first game of the doubleheader before bouncing back to take the nightcap. The Crimson benefited from solid pitching performances in both games, and could easily have emerged with two victories, but the Tigers (6-14, 1-1 Ivy) managed to squeak out a win on a walk-off single in the 12th.

“I was real happy with the pitching overall,” Harvard coach Joe Walsh said. “I thought everyone came in and did a nice job.”

The split to open Ivy League play was a clear improvement over last year’s opening weekend, when the Crimson was swept by Columbia.

“We did a great job coming out with intensity, coming out with the mindset that we were going to win games,” said sophomore pitcher and outfielder Brent Suter.

“We could have easily won both games, we could have easily dropped both games—it’s just how baseball is,” Walsh added.

HARVARD 4, PRINCETON 2

Only an hour removed from its extra-inning loss, the Crimson stepped back onto the field for the second game of the day.

“I was proud of the way the guys bounced back after losing a tough game,” Walsh said. “It was an emotional game.”

“We really let that one go and came out with a good mindset the next game,” Suter said. “We came out and just responded.”

Junior Eric Eadington pitched a gem, giving up two runs and striking out five in eight innings to earn his second win of the season.

“Eric did a great job today. He didn’t make too many bad pitches,” Walsh said. “He did a nice job of holding runners—not that there were too many runners.”

Junior Sean O’Hara hit a two-run home run in the 4th inning to give Harvard a lead it would never surrender.

After Princeton narrowed the gap with a run in the bottom of the 4th, freshman Kyle Larrow’s RBI double in the 6th extended the lead to 3-1.

Tigers senior Jon Broscious hit one off of Eadington into the bleachers in left field in the home half of the sixth, but the Crimson responded with another run on Larrow’s suicide squeeze for his second RBI of the contest.

“We squared a lot of balls up today,” Walsh said. “Even though we scored four runs, I was real happy with our at-bats.”

Senior Dan Zailskas came in and pitched a perfect ninth inning to pick up the save and secure Harvard’s first Ivy win of the season.

Walsh was also pleased with his team’s effort against one of the league’s best pitchers, Princeton junior David Palms, who has given the Crimson trouble in the past with his low-to-mid-90’s fastball and slider.

“[Palms] is a pretty good pitcher, that’s for sure,” Walsh said. “He shut us down last year.”

PRINCETON 4, HARVARD 3 (12 INN.)

Tigers senior Noel Gonzales-Luna hit a walk-off single in the bottom of the 12th inning, bringing home freshmen Alex Flink and John Mishu to capture the first game of the doubleheader for Princeton.

“It was kind of a bummer,” Suter said. “You’ve worked so hard, played so many innings, but they got the big hit.”

The Crimson took a 3-2 lead in the top of the 12th inning when junior captain Tyler Albright reached on a fielder’s choice, scoring sophomore Jeff Reynolds.

“After we scored a run, we felt pretty good about things,” Walsh said.

But the optimism didn’t last long. In the home half of the frame, Mishu singled and reached second on a sacrifice bunt, prompting Walsh to bring in freshman Joey Novak to close it out.

“It was a tough situation to bring a freshman in,” Walsh said.

Novak walked Flink and freshman Matt Bowman to load the bases before junior Dan Berardo surrendered the winning hit, a bouncing grounder between shortstop O’Hara and third baseman Reynolds.

“It took the air out of the balloon a little bit,” Walsh said.

The Tigers had taken a 2-0 lead in the fourth inning after consecutive run-scoring extra base hits by Mishu and junior Brandon Englert. Harvard responded immediately, evening the score at 2-2 in the top half of the fifth.

With men on second and third, Larrow grounded out to third, scoring a run. Junior Dillon O’Neill followed with a double to right-center, plating another.

Starter Connor Hulse went 4.2 innings for the Crimson, allowing two runs on four hits and striking out three. Sophomore Will Keuper pitched five no-hit innings in relief and struck out six.