Baseball Opens Season With Four Consecutive Losses

In the Harvard baseball team’s first games of its spring season, late-game lapses led to four straight losses. The confines of the J.L. Johnson Stadium in Tulsa, Okla. were not friendly to the Crimson (0-4) in its series against Oral Roberts, as Harvard lost all four by a total of six runs.

“We were three innings away [in each of the games] from being 4-0,” said junior right fielder Brandon Kregel. “I think this weekend was more of a learning experience because we have the talent, witout a doubt. If you go through the box score, we were up [late], and I think…we just crashed a bit mentally.”

The Crimson’s trip to Oral Roberts (5-6) was the first meeting between the squads in the programs’ histories.“Oklahoma was a great place to open up [the season],” Kregel said. “Oral Roberts is one of the better teams in college baseball, so it was a nice experience to play against them, and we hung with them every single game.”

ORAL ROBERTS 6, HARVARD 5

Harvard suffered another one-run loss in the final matchup of the four-game set. Defensive woes sent the Crimson back to Cambridge still looking for its first win.

Led by senior second baseman Kyle Larrow’s trio of hits and Kregel’s three walks, the Harvard offense managed 12 hits and drew five walks against five Golden Eagle pitchers, while senior starter Sam Dodge threw six innings and struck out four for the Crimson.

But the Harvard defense had three errors in the game, and a balk by losing pitcher Zack Olson in the bottom of the eighth gave Oral Roberts a 6-4 lead heading into the ninth. In the second half of the frame, the Crimson nearly pulled off a rally, but fell just short again. Kregel slapped an RBI single to left to pull within one. Kregel advanced to scoring position on a wild pitch, but junior designated hitter Ethan Ferreira and Dill struck out to end the game, stranding the tying and go-ahead runs on base.

ORAL ROBERTS 5, HARVARD 3

Saturday was a new day, but the results of the second doubleheader were a similar story.Both sides’ bats were quiet until late in the game, with Harvard freshman right-hander Nick Gruener striking out six and walking none. He lasted seven and two-thirds innings on the mound in his first collegiate appearance.

From the opposite dugout, Oral Roberts’ Gavin Glanz matched him with a seven-plus inning quality start of his own.

“I was pretty excited about [getting to start] after we’ve been training for six months now,” Gruener said. “To have the opportunity to start one of the first four games as a freshman was pretty huge. It was unfortunate that we lost, but I thought as a team we pushed hard.”

In its half of the eighth, the Crimson took advantage of three Golden Eagles errors, scoring three runs—two unearned—and taking a 3-1 lead heading into the bottom of the inning. But once again, finishing the game strong turned out to be the Achilles heel for Harvard.

Still in the game, Gruener gave up a single and a two-bagger to cut the Crimson lead to one before giving way to junior right-hander Matt Timoney. For the second straight day, the junior right-hander was unable to shut the door, walking Brandy and then giving up a two-run triple to clean-up Oral Roberts hitter Jose Trevino.

Freshman Greg Coman took over for Harvard, and gave up another triple to make the score 5-3 in favor of the home squad. The Crimson had two hits by Larrow and junior outfielder Jack Colton to bring junior outfielder Mike Martin to the plate in the top of the ninth, but Martin grounded into a 5-4-3 double play to end the rally and the game.

ORAL ROBERTS 4, HARVARD 3

Looking to bounce back after a tough first loss, the Crimson dug itself a 3-0 deficit by the end of the third inning. Harvard junior starting pitcher Tanner Anderson gave up four hits in the first two innings, but only one thereafter in his six innings of work.

The Crimson got one run back in the fourth on a fielder’s choice from the bat of freshman first baseman Matt Hink. Both teams traded goose eggs on the scoreboard for the next three frames before Harvard finally started a rally in the top of the eighth.

First, Martin legged out an infield single, and stole second. After a walk to Kregel, Martin scored and Kregel advanced to third off a wild pitch. Junior catcher Steve Dill laced a single to center to score Kregel and knot the score at 3.

But Oral Roberts took the lead for good in the bottom half of the eighth off a balk by senior reliever Danny Moskovits. Harvard put the tying and go-ahead runs on base in the ninth, but Kregel struck out swinging to seal the 4-3 win for the Golden Eagles.

ORAL ROBERTS 6, HARVARD 4

Harvard squandered a strong first start by sophomore right-hander Sean Poppen to kick off the 2014 season. The Chesapeake, Va. native threw six-plus innings and gave up three earned runs on six hits.

After Poppen walked the first batter of the bottom of the seventh, Harvard coach Bill Decker handed the ball to Timoney to close the inning. But two of the three Golden Eagles batters Timoney faced reached base on errors. The second error loaded the bases for Oral Roberts’ Matt Brandy, who promptly banged a bases-clearing double off Crimson sophomore T.J. Laurisch, who had just taken over on the hill.

Oral Roberts’ two-run lead stood for the final two frames, and the Crimson suffered a loss in its first game of the season.

“The hitters competed all four games and got us the runs we needed,” Gruener said. “Moving forward, [we] need to be able to finish games off, and have our bullpen come out and finish games off for us. Once we get that down, I think we’ll be a pretty dominant team.”

—Staff writer Caleb Lee can be reached at caleblee@college.harvard.edu.