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Strong Infield to Lead Baseball Through Tough Non-Conference Slate

A triple-header against No. 1 Florida is on the Crimson's schedule this year, giving them a large challenges before heading into conference play.

By Stephen J. Gleason, Crimson Staff Writer

A triple-header against No. 1 Florida is on the Crimson's schedule this year, giving them a large challenges before heading into conference play. By Saul A. Urbina-Johanson

Fresh faces and high expectations abound as Harvard baseball enters the 2016 season, its fourth under coach Bill Decker. The Crimson has increased its win total in each of Decker’s four years at the helm, including an 18-24 (7-13 Ivy) record last season. Led by perhaps the league’s top infield—as well as two top-line starters—and challenged by a rigorous non-conference schedule, Harvard will look to end up on the other side of one-run games, of which it lost seven in Ivy play last season.

After leading the league in almost every offensive category, the Crimson offense seeks to replace the production of infielder Jake McGuiggan ’15 and Oakland Athletics draft pick Mike Martin ’15 at the top of the batting order.

“It was evident that the returning guys did the work they needed to do over the summer and that continued until the bubble season,” co-captain DJ Link said. “Since we’re losing a lot, we’re going to need our returning guys to be that much better and then we’re going to need some of the freshmen to step into big roles.”

While freshman Ben Skinner will likely fill the void left by Martin in center and senior Mitch Klug will slide over to McGuiggan’s spot at second, Harvard will lean heavily on three returning starters from last season—sophomore right fielder Conor Quinn, junior shortstop Drew Reid, and junior first baseman Matt Hink.

Reid hit .280 as a sophomore and scored 28 runs in a breakout campaign. Despite a slow start, Quinn finished his freshman campaign with a .291 average and seven doubles. Hink will miss the start of the season with a hand injury, but the junior provides the Crimson with power from the right side.

One Harvard player who is poised for a breakout season is sophomore third baseman John Fallon, who saw limited action in a crowded Crimson infield last season. However, when he was in the lineup, Fallon showed glimpses of the talent that made him a highly coveted prospect coming out of Houston. He took home Ivy League Rookie of the Week honors after going 11-for-15 with eight runs batted in in a weekend series against Princeton and Cornell.

Link had a bounceback junior campaign in which he hit .308 in 28 games. Skinner, freshman Patrick McColl, sophomore Matt Rothenberg, and junior Josh Ellis figure to see time in the outfield and at designated hitter.

Harvard’s pitching staff is headlined by senior Sean Poppen and junior Nick Gruener, both mainstays in last season’s rotation. Both Poppen and Gruener won three games last season and averaged over seven strikeouts per nine innings. While last season’s team relied on its offense, the key for Harvard in 2016 will be balance.

Dartmouth, Penn, and Yale all boast deep starting rotations, and runs in Ivy League play are always hard to come by. Seniors Sean O’Neill and T.J. Laurisch anchor an experienced Harvard bullpen that will also feature sophomore Dylan Combs, co-captain Mike Sanders, and junior Kevin Rex, who is returning from an elbow injury.

The Crimson will play three weeks’ worth of road contests before playing its first games in Cambridge on March 27. Spring break will feature six games in Clearwater, Fla., against UMass and Army, teams against which Harvard went 5-2 last season.

“I think you come back to the Ivy League really ready to go,”Matt Sanders said. “In terms of seeing better pitching, it can be great for our hitters to go down there. It just really gets everyone ready to play when you come up North.”

Ivy play begins April 2 with a doubleheader at Cornell and a twinbill at Princeton the following day. Harvard took the first three games in this series convincingly last season, but fell in Sunday’s second game against Cornell.

“We’ve been right in a bunch of games,” Sanders said. “We have all the tools we need to be successful and hopefully having the seniors in the bullpen and some of the older guys in the lineup is going to help us in those one-run games.”

A pair of four-game series with Yale on the road and Brown at home precede home-and-home doubleheaders with Dartmouth, the eight-time defending Red Rolfe Division champion. Harvard has not stolen a game from the Big Green since 2012.

“While we’re not looking at last year’s statistics so much, it’s one of those things that we’re doing every little thing we can do to make sure those one-run games go our way” Link said. “The Ivy League is a grind. Sometimes it comes down to who wants it the most so it’s the little things that get you winning those close games.”

While the usual suspects will likely figure to remain atop the conference, this year’s Crimson team appears to have the mix of experience and youth as well as offense and pitching needed to to win the one-run games it lost last season. An improved pitching staff and a balanced infield have the potential to take the next step and bring Harvard its first winning Ivy League season since 2007.

“I think this year more than in the past, we have a pretty good balance of pitching, defense, and hitting,” Link said. “I really feel like we have guys stepping up now from both sides. It’s one of those things where we go live, you never know what you’re going to get.”

Staff writer Stephen J. Gleason can be reached at stephen.gleason@thecrimson.com.

.“I think this year more than in the past, we have a pretty good balance of pitching, defense, and hitting,” Link said. “I really feel like we have guys stepping up now from both sides. It’s one of those things where we go live, you never know what you’re going to get.” Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit. Aenean commodo ligula eget dolor. Aenean massa. Cum sociis natoque penatibus et magnis dis parturient montes, nascetur ridiculus mus. Donec quam felis, ultricies nec, pellentesque eu, pretium quis, sem. Nulla consequat massa quis enim. Donec pede justo. 50 words

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