Baseball Readies for Brown

The four-game battle between Harvard and Brown, two very similar teams, this weekend on College Hill in Providence will most likely decide this year's Ivy League Championship.

The teams will be battling for the title of Red Rolfe Division champion. The winner will go on to battle the winner of the Gherig Division for the Ivy League Championship in early May.

The Crimson (18-12, 10-2 Ivy) may feel like it is looking in the mirror when looks ahead to the Bears (18-12, 10-2 Ivy) squad it will be facing.

Not only do both teams sport identical records, but they have both been hot recently, both play an identical style of baseball and both have aggressive coaches who have turned their school's programs around.

But Harvard feels it has an advantage.

"We're the defending champions and Brown is coming into our house," Coach Joe Walsh said. "They've got to worry about preparing for us, not the other way around."

Yet the Crimson cannot deny it--the Bears are hot. After a shaky start, they have stormed back to take 16 of their last 20 games.

Still, Brown cannot be comfortable. Its 18 victories approaches the school record of 23 wins back in 1986. Harvard won 36 games last year.

"This is familiar territory for us, but foreign territory for them," junior first baseman Eric Binkowski said. "We are relaxed and confident; they must be nervous."

As if that weren't enough, Brown fields a youthful team. Captain Peter DeYoung, a versatile infielder, is the only senior on the entire squad. Harvard has seven seniors.

DeYoung leads the improving Brown offense after coming off of a solid season in his junior campaign. He hit .316 with 49 hits including 13 doubles.

Sophomore Dan Kantrovitz plays the supporting role in the offense. A scrappy 5'8 shortstop who started every game last year, Kantrovitz hit .316 with 47 hits as a freshman.

This year, he is simply on fire. He won Ivy League Player of the Week honors last week after thrashing Columbia and Pennsylvania, going 10-for-16 and leading the Bears to three wins. He is also in the midst of a 13-game hitting streak.

You can even smell the greenery of the Bears' pitching staff. Seven new pitchers take the mound this year, led by freshman Jamie Grillo. Grillo, who is 32 with an ERA of 4.17, won Ivy League Rookie of the Week honors this week after he pitched his way to two impressive victories.

Junior John Sunderdick has also been a clutch hurler for the Bears. The reigning Ivy League Player of the Week, Sunderdick is currently 4-0 with a 2.32 ERA and 23 strikeouts after leading the team in victories last season.

Brown will come off of three days of rest after having its nine-game winning streak snapped on Tuesday by Providence College. The Friars, who were defeated by the Crimson 13-6 earlier in the year, overcame an early 3-0 Bears lead to win decisively 11-5. Brown junior left-fielder Jeff Lawler went 3-4, upping his team-leading average to .394.

The loss came only two days after the conclusion of a dazzling weekend that saw the furried forest-walkers trounce Dartmouth in Hanover in four contests by a combined total of 26-6.

Like Brown, Harvard is hot. Riding a six-game win streak, and winners of 9 of its last 11, the Crimson looks to pave the way toward an Ivy Championship with a solid showing in Providence.

Harvard is coming off of last weekend's four game sweep of Yale, in which it outscored the Bulldogs 43-18 in a breakout offensive performance.

Five days of well-deserved rest from its intense schedule should do Harvard well. They will now be able to use all of their firepower by using their four best pitchers to go out and bring home the Division title.

The Crimson will undoubtedly start aces John Birtwell and Garret Vail in an attempt to stop the Bears. Birtwell is 3-2 with a 2.19 ERA. He has struck out 42 and allowed only 24 hits in 37 dominating innings this year. Vail is 1-2 but sports a 2.73 ERA to go along with his 33 strikeouts in as many innings. Both men picked up key victories in strong outings against Yale.

"[Brown] will have a lot of enthusiasm when they face us," Birtwell said. "Our pitchers will need to change speeds, hit spots and keep them off balance to win."

And from an offensive perspective, this could not be a better time for the Crimson to prove its worth. Captain Hal Carey, senior Andrew Huling, senior Jason Keck, junior Eric Binkowski and freshman Mark Mager combined last weekend to go 35-for-74 (.473) against the beleaguered Bulldogs, good enough to raise the cumulative team batting average to an even .300.

Huling enters this weekend after going 8-for-13 (.615) against Yale last weekend and carries a .406 batting average with 5 home runs, 38 RBI and a sizzling .703 slugging percentage, not to mention an on-base average of .472. He leads the Crimson in nearly every offensive category.

Mager and senior second-baseman Peter "Woody" Woodfork have also been important offensive contributors. Mager is hitting .342 with 20 RBI in only 73 at-bats, and Woodfork is hitting .361 with 22 RBI. The Crimson will need hits from this supporting cast if it hopes to be victorious.

"This will be a weekend of two teams with similar styles," Binkowski said. "Both are aggressive. Whoever produces in major situations will win."