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Baseball Thumped by UMass in Beanpot Final, 11-4

By Zachary T. Ball, Special to The Crimson

BOSTON--The Harvard baseball team started strong, but eventually could not contain the No. 28 UMass Minutemen in a 11-4 loss yesterday in the finals of the Beanpot Championship.

At Fenway Park, the Crimson stayed even at 3-3 with the Minutemen through four innings, but UMass's top-to-bottom hitting talent could not be contained indefinitely. The Minutemen shelled nine Crimson pitchers for eight runs over the final five innings while the Harvard offense was held to only one run for the remainder of the game.

UMass pitcher Adam Robinson (2-0) looked sharp while working five scoreless innings of three-hit baseball and earned his second victory on the season.

"I didn't think Robinson was overpowering," Harvard captain Peter Albers said. "But he was throwing strikes and getting guys out. He was very effective."

Robinson came on as UMass struggled early in the game, but he took command of the game by eliminating any Harvard threat.

"He had a tough slider out there," Harvard coach Joe Walsh said. "He really slammed the door on us. I don't think we'll see a better two-pitch pitcher all year."

Both teams started quickly. UMass scored two in the first, aided by an error and a wild pitch by Harvard. But the Crimson struck back in the bottom of the frame, taking the lead at 3-2 as the first five Harvard batters reached base safely.

UMass came right back to tie the score at three in the second before Harvard junior starter Michael Marcucci was replaced by sophomore Quinn Schafer.

Schafer pitched well, allowing only two hits from the nine batters he faced.

While Schafer was shutting down the UMass threat, Robinson was brought in and did the same to the Crimson.

The score still tied at three, Harvard dodged at bullet in the third. With one out and men on second and third, Minutemen second baseman Muchie Dagliere hit a deep fly ball to straightaway center that appeared certain to score the goa-head run, but junior centerfielder Brian Ralph came up firing to third, and gunned down the man from second for the inning's third out before the go-ahead run could cross the plate.

But UMass continued to hit the Harvard pitching, and it was only a matter of time before the floodgates broke.

"I knew [the Minutemen] could light up the scoreboard," Walsh said. "We got behind in the count against too many hitters, and it was a no brainer.... They were going to hurt us."

UMass took the lead for good, 5-3, with two runs in the fifth. But Harvard continued to benefit from outstanding outfield play and poor UMass baserunning. Two outs in the two-run fifth came off a pickoff at first, and a two-out put-out at home when junior leftfielder Aaron Kessler threw out David Giglio trying to score form first on a Minutemen double.

UMass followed with two more in the sixth, by which time the outcome was becoming painfully clear to the Harvard faithful in attendance.

"We made mistakes," Walsh said. "We have to throw strikes, play solid defense, and run the bases well to win, and we did none of those today."

After UMass got two in the sixth to take the lead, 7-3, Harvard elected to use the remaining three innings to give the bench and bullpen some playing time. In the end, 23 players, including nine pitchers, saw action.

Ralph went 3-5 and scored two runs for the Crimson while registering four put-outs and an assist in centerfield.

For the Minutemen, Doug Clark received the tournament co-MVP award for his 5-5 performance, including three runs scored and an RBI. Umass 11 Harvard 4

UMass, 11-4 at Fenway Park R H E UMass 210 022 040 -- 11 18 4 Harvard 000 000 000 -- 13 10 3 UMASS AB R H BI BB SO Gorrie ss 5 0 2 0 0 0 Mazzaferro ph 1 0 0 0 0 1 Thistle 3b 0 0 0 0 0 0 Correa 3b/ss 4 2 2 0 2 0 Dagliere 2b 6 0 0 0 0 0 Clark cf 5 3 5 1 1 0 Gautreau rf 5 1 2 1 1 0 Samela c 4 2 3 4 0 0 Braunstein lf 3 3 1 0 2 0 Giglio ib 4 0 2 1 0 1 Wolcott ph/1b 1 0 0 0 0 1 Kudrikow dh 5 0 2 2 0 1 TOTALS 43 11 18 9 6 4

E: Gorrie 2, Gautreau 2, Ralph, Hochanadel, Harris. DP: UMass 1, Harvard 1. LOB: UMass 12, Harvard 9. 2B: Clark, Gautreau, Samela, Giglio, Kudrikow 2, Ralph, Albers. 3B: None. HR: None. SB: Gorrie 3, Correa, Gautreau, Kessler, Vankowski. CS: Albers, Carey.

WP: Marcucci 2, Hogan. PB: Keck. BK: None. HBP: None. HARVARD AB R H BI BB SO Kessler lf 2 1 0 0 2 1 Menkiti ph 1 0 0 0 0 0 Ralph cf 5 2 3 0 0 1 Huling rf/p 4 1 2 0 0 0 Wells p 0 0 0 0 0 0 Giampaolo p 1 0 1 0 0 0 Albers 1b 4 0 1 1 1 1 Vankoski dh/rf 4 0 2 1 0 0 Carey 2b 3 0 0 0 1 1 Kreck c 3 0 0 0 0 1 Larocque ph/c 1 0 0 0 0 0 Hochanadel 3b 3 0 0 0 0 0 Bridich ph 1 0 1 0 0 0 Forst ss 2 0 0 0 0 0 Binkowski ph 1 0 0 0 0 0 Harris ss 0 0 0 0 0 0 Wilke ph 1 0 0 0 0 1 TOTALS 36 4 10 2 4 6 UMASS IP H R ER BB SO Puleri 3 4 3 3 2 0 Robinson, W (2-0) 5 3 1 0 2 4 Hartman 1 3 0 0 0 2 HARVARD IP H R ER BB SO Marcucci 1 3 3 2 1 0 Schafer 2 3 0 0 2 1 Duffell 1 1 0 0 1 0 Hogan, L (5-2) 1 2 2 0 1 0 Vail 0.2 3 2 2 1 0 Magnuson 1.1 1 0 0 0 1 Huling 0.2 4 4 2 0 1 Wells 0.1 0 0 0 0 1 Giampaola 1 1 0 0 0 0

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