Baseball Splits Away Series Against Wofford To Begin Season

The Harvard baseball team kicked off its 2015 campaign with a trip to Spartanburg, S.C. for a four-game weekend series with Wofford. The Terriers (9-3) were coming off their first loss of the season, an 11-5 defeat to ACC powerhouse Clemson.

Fueled by victories in both games of Saturday’s doubleheader, the Crimson was able to earn a series split and pick up two victories in its opening weekend for the first time since 2010.

“I thought overall it was a pretty good first weekend for us,” senior infielder Jake McGuiggan said. “For us to come out this weekend and get two wins, that was huge for us. Our starting pitching was really great [Saturday], that was definitely the key.”

WOFFORD, 7, HARVARD, 0

Harvard fell behind early and could not get anything going offensively on Sunday, dropping the final game of the series for the weekend split. Freshman Adam Scott threw a complete game shutout for Wofford, conceding only three singles and two walks.

With Sunday starter and senior Tanner Anderson unavailable, junior Nick Scahill got the start for the Crimson. The junior lasted only two and two-thirds innings and was tagged for the loss after giving up three earned runs. Junior Sean O’Neill temporarily stopped the bleeding for Harvard, throwing two and a third scoreless innings, but the Terriers tacked on four more runs, and the Crimson offense was held hitless from the third inning until the eighth.

Designated hitter Matt Ramsay had three hits and catcher Carson Waln drove in three runs for Wofford.

HARVARD, 3, WOFFORD, 1

Led by senior Matt Timoney’s arm and McGuiggan’s bat, Harvard was able to pick up a sweep of Saturday’s doubleheader. Timoney struck out six and gave up only one hit in five innings of work, while the second baseman had two singles and drove in two runs to propel the Crimson.

“Once we strung a couple hits together there, we felt like we had a little momentum,” McGuiggan said. “I was able to get a couple pretty good pitches to hit and take advantage of those. Our confidence with our pitchers on the mound definitely helped us.”

Co-captain and catcher Ethan Ferreira got Harvard on the board in the top of the first with a groundout to second. The Crimson added runs in the second and seventh when McGuiggan drove in Jake Colton both time. The hosts’ only real offensive threat came in the seventh, when four Terriers reached base, but the hosts only produced one run.

Anderson was dominant in shutting the door on Wofford, striking out two and retiring all seven batters he faced. The senior only had to throw 16 pitches to pick up his second save.

HARVARD, 2, WOFFORD, 1

Harvard bounced back from its opening game loss with a come-from-behind victory in a contest that was defined with strong pitching on both sides. Left fielder Demetrius Jennings, the Terriers’ nine-hole hitter, scored on sophomore Nick Gruener’s wild pitch in the third to give Wofford the lead. The wild pitch was one of the only mistakes on the day for Gruener, who struck out seven and did not surrender an extra-base hit in six innings.

“I think my fastball and my slider were working really well, cutting in on guys,” Gruener said. “They really didn’t like inside pitches so two-seam fastballs worked well and I felt really comfortable on the mound.”

In the seventh, Crimson senior catcher Steve Dill scored on a balk by Terrier reliever Jacob Condra-Bogan and in the following inning, Harvard was able to tack on the decisive run when junior infielder Mitch Klug flied out to bring in freshman Connor Quinn.

Junior righty T.J. Laurisch gave up a double to Wofford’s Ramsay in the bottom half of the frame, but Anderson ended the threat and pitched a scoreless ninth to pick up the save.

WOFFORD, 9, HARVARD, 2

The Crimson began its season Friday afternoon in Spartanburg, giving the ball to junior righty Sean Poppen. A five-run third inning for the Terriers broke open a game that was briefly tied at one.

In Wofford’s big inning, a hit by pitch and two singles loaded the bases with nobody out. Two errors, a sacrifice fly, and a balk gave the Terriers a 6-1 lead they would never relinquish. Wofford starter Matthew Milburn scattered seven hits, giving up one run in his six innings of work.

Harvard’s first four hitters went a combined 9-for-19 with three doubles, led by senior center fielder Mike Martin’s three-hit day, but the rest of the lineup could only muster two hits.

“We’re definitely going to be playing some good teams,” McGuiggan said. “If we can maintain some of the pitching we had this weekend but improve the offense, I think we’ll be in good shape moving forward.”

—Staff writer Stephen J. Gleason can be reached at sgleason@college.harvard.edu.