Baseball Goes 1-1 To Open Weekend

Fresh off a midweek loss to crosstown rival Northeastern, the Harvard baseball team sought to rebound in a four-game stand against Ivy League cellar dweller Yale.

But the chance to pick up some much-needed wins got off to a bumpy start. The Crimson dropped its first contest against the Bulldogs, 3-2, before coming back strong in the nightcap to earn a split with a 7-6 win.

“We wanted to come in taking four [games over the Bulldogs], and the loss was pretty heartbreaking,” junior third baseman Kyle Larrow said. “But I’m proud of the team in general, especially the way we were able to hold Yale off in the second game.”

HARVARD 7, YALE 6

Down 7-2 in the sixth inning of Saturday’s second game, Yale (8-26-1, 2-10 Ivy) scored four runs on five hits in the frame to put the game back within one. But the Crimson (8-25, 4-8) was able to hold off the rally, due largely in part to pitching from senior reliever Conner Hulse.

Hulse earned the save for the Crimson, striking out four of the 10 batters he faced and holding the Bulldogs hitless in the final 2.2 innings of the nightcap, as Harvard escaped with a 7-6 win.

“I think we knew we didn’t play to our potential in the first game,” Larrow said. “We came into the second game trying to come out hard and match the intensity from the previous game. In a nine-inning game, there’s a lot more time to get runs on the board.”

Freshman hurler Tanner Anderson picked up the victory on the mound—and improved to 2-2 this season—after giving up six hits and as many runs in a solid 5.1 inning performance.

On the offensive side of things, sophomore left fielder Jack Colton led the way, driving in three runners on two hits in his five at-bats.

“We were seeing the ball better and getting timely hits,” Larrow said. “When you score seven runs, it helps you out a lot more than two runs do.”

Harvard got on the board first, as two errors and a Colton bunt allowed freshman centerfielder Mike Martin to reach home in the first inning. Sophomore second baseman Jake McGuiggan then drove in Colton with a single to left field.

But Yale struck back, evening the score in the bottom of the first, as center fielder Charlie Neil—who earned four RBIs in Saturday’s nightcap—drove home two Bulldog runners with a single down the left-field line.

The Crimson picked up five more runs in the next four innings. Colton singled to drive in junior first baseman Rob Wineski after the junior made it to second base on a sacrifice bunt by Martin in the second inning.

Colton picked up a two-RBI double in the forth, sending home Wineski and Larrow.

In the fifth inning, sophomore right fielder Carlton Bailey and Larrow closed out scoring for the Crimson, driving in one runner each to give Harvard a five-run advantage.

YALE 3, HARVARD 2 (8 inn.)

After Harvard went down quickly in the top of the eighth, Yale right fielder Joe Lubanski came up big for the Bulldogs, leading off the Yale half of the inning with a triple.

Junior pitcher Zack Olson intentionally walked the next two batters. But a sacrifice fly out on the subsequent at-bat from Yale second baseman Jacob Hunter proved to be the difference-maker, allowing Lubanski to reach home and secure the Bulldogs’ first conference win of the season, 3-2.

“Yale put together a nice little rally and were able to come away with the win,” McGuiggan said. “We lost, but it wasn’t one of those losses where you can blame it on one play or one player. Yale just put together a couple of good innings.”

Harvard took its lone lead of the game in the seventh when senior second baseman Jeff Reynolds scored on a sacrifice fly from freshman catcher Ethan Ferreira. But the Bulldogs returned fire in the bottom of the frame, with Neil driving in Hunter to tie up the game at two runs apiece and to send the contest into extra innings.

“It’s definitely tough being away and knowing that Yale has that last at-bat,” McGuiggan said. “No matter what Yale always has the final say. It puts you on edge because you don’t want to be the guy that makes a big mistake. That said, I think we approached [the extra inning] loosely and trusted in our abilities.”

Yale started off scoring with senior southpaw Brent Suter on the mound in the first inning, as first baseman Kevin Fortunato drove in Hunter with a single.

The Crimson loaded the bases in the third, fourth, and sixth innings, but was only able to come away with one run, stranding a total 12 runners on base in the first game of the day.

Harvard tied up the game, 1-1, in the fourth inning, with McGuiggan reaching home on an at-bat from senior catcher John Smart.

“That first loss was a tough one to swallow,” McGuiggan said. “But we did our best not to let it ruin the whole day.”

—Staff writer Catherine E. Coppinger can be reached at ccoppinger@college.harvard.edu.