Crimson Bats Quiet in Beanpot Loss

LYNN, Mass.—Ask any baseball coach at any level of play what the key to winning is and you’ll hear the same answer every time: pitching and defense.

The Harvard baseball team got plenty of both last night in the first round game of the Beanpot Tournament against UMass at Fraser Field in Lynn, Mass. Unfortunately for the Crimson, it wasn’t enough.

Harvard (2-23, 1-7 Ivy) fell victim to its sluggish offense once again, managing just four hits on its way to losing, 3-0, to the Minutemen (9-12) and failing to advance to the Beanpot final for the second consecutive year.

“I keep saying, ‘We have to catch a break,” Crimson coach Joe Walsh said. “How come we can’t get that? You get that momentum then you just sink and you’re saying ‘Here we go again.’”

Harvard received a solid performance on the mound from freshman pitcher Anthony Nutter, who allowed three runs in seven innings of work while striking out four in his first career start.

“He was mixing it up pretty well,” senior catcher Matt Kramer said. “He’s got a pretty good slider. He can spot that well on the outside corner. He was doing a great job of doing that and spotting up and working ahead of people.”

But while Nutter kept the Crimson in the game, the Harvard lineup failed to capitalize. UMass starter Mike Dicato held the Crimson hitless through five innings before Harvard junior outfielder Matt Rogers broke up the no-no bid in the sixth with a leadoff single through the left side of the infield.

But in the next at-bat, Rogers took off for second and senior shortstop Jeff Stoeckel stroked a line drive into the glove of Minutemen right fielder Mike Donato. Rogers, who had already made it to second base, was doubled up as Donato’s throw beat him to the bag at first.

The bottom of the seventh inning proved even more agonizing for the Crimson. Senior Taylor Meehan ripped a shot to the gap in right center to lead off the inning. Walsh waved Meehan around second, but Donato fired a strike on the cutoff throw to UMass second baseman Adam Tempesta who nailed Meehan out at third.

“Taylor had a great hit there,” Kramer said. “It just happens.”

Undeterred, Harvard strung together two walks and a single to load the bases with two outs as freshman Sean O’Hara came to the plate. O’Hara hit a sharp ground ball up the middle, but Tempesta scooped it up and threw to first for the out to kill the Crimson rally.

“It seems those kind of things just keep happening to us,” Kramer said. “I don’t know if we angered the baseball gods or what it is, but someone’s kind of out to get us.”

Harvard’s hitting woes not only overshadowed Nutter’s outing on the mound, but a stellar Crimson defensive effort—spearheaded by Kramer—as well.

Kramer put on a clinic behind the plate, making a sliding catch on a foul popup, gunning down two runners at second on stolen base attempts, and expertly blocking the plate on a pair of bang-bang plays at home to keep the score close for Harvard.

“His feet were real quick,” Walsh said. “That enabled his throws to get off. He just really was in a good game tonight. He looked real polished back there and did a nice job receiving.”

Kramer found himself in the middle of a benches-clearing incident in the top of the eighth after senior pitcher Sean Haviland took the mound in relief of Nutter and allowed both of his inherited runners to score. UMass almost added another run, but Kramer held on to the ball following a collision at the plate with Minutemen third baseman Ryan Franczek. The two arose from the crash entangled, and a scuffle ensued. The umpiring staff and both teams’ coaches quickly restored order.

But the fracas failed to ignite the Crimson bats, and the 3-0 deficit proved insurmountable for Harvard, which was retired in order in both the eighth and ninth innings to close out the loss.

—Staff writer Loren Amor can be reached at lamor@fas.harvard.edu.