Bullpen Blows Late Lead

PROVIDENCE—A stunning eighth-inning collapse in the second game of Saturday’s doubleheader at Brown prevented the Crimson from seizing a two-game lead atop the Ivy League’s Red Rolfe Division.

The two teams entered the weekend tied for first place.

Senior relievers Jake Bruton and Jason Brown combined to allow eight runs—including a grand slam and a three-run blast—and turn an 8-4 Harvard lead into a sudden, deflating 12-8 deficit.

The bullpen meltdown wasted a gutsy outing by junior Shawn Haviland and a scrappy, come-from-behind effort by the lineup.

“They battled hard for the entire game,” Bruton said. “The hitters did a great job scoring runs for us, and I just didn’t do my job when I was in there. We had a chance to win that game.”

Freshman Max Perlman and the Crimson bested Bears ace Jeff Dietz in the opener by a 7-3 final, giving head coach Joe Walsh his 500th career win.

BROWN 12, HARVARD 8

Bruton entered the fray in the eighth inning with a four-run cushion and exited five batters later with the go-ahead run on first base—without having recorded an out.

After a leadoff triple and two walks, No. 8 hitter Rob Papenhause lofted a game-tying grand slam into the centrifugal winds in right-center.

After No. 9 hitter Brad Rifkin grounded a single up the middle, senior Jason Brown tried to staunch the bleeding. But he only managed to induce a sacrifice bunt before allowing an RBI single, hitting a batter, and surrendering a three-run drive to Dietz. In the blink of an eye, an encouraging four-run lead had morphed into an insurmountable four-run hole.

“I thought we had it there,” junior Matt Vance said, “but the relievers just didn’t have it today.”

Harvard finally broke through against Brown starter James Cramphin in the late innings. Through six frames, Cramphin had struck out 10—he finished with 12 strikeouts—and permitted just a single run.

But sophomore Matt Rogers pulled the Crimson within one with a two-run homer in the top of the seventh, and Vance gave the team the lead with a two-run double later in the inning. Vance drove in another pair of runs off a tired Cramphin in the top of the eighth with a single to center.

“The timely hitting was a big thing today,” Vance said. “I’m glad I’ve been helping out the team coming through there. That’s a testament to the bottom of the lineup too, getting on so—me being in the leadoff spot—I have a chance to drive in runs.”

Haviland, who was in line to register his third straight Ivy win, wound up with a no-decision after allowing four runs on eight hits in seven innings.

Brown did most of its damage against him in the third inning. Rifkin blasted his first career longball, and senior catcher Devin Thomas followed with a two-out solo drive—both into the right-field jet stream.

“[Haviland] wasn’t quite on, but we made a game out of it,” Vance said. “And we just couldn’t pull it out. But we have two tomorrow.”

HARVARD 7, BROWN 3

Perlman went six innings for his fourth win of the season while Vance and junior Steffan Wilson paced the offense in a tidy victory in the opener.

Wilson gave the Crimson the lead for a good with a monster solo home run to left field off Dietz in the first and scored in three-run Harvard rallies in both the third and the sixth innings.

With one run home in the third on a Vance RBI single, Brown walked Wilson intentionally to match up with rookie designated hitter Andrew Prince with two outs, but Prince responded by knocking in both Vance and Wilson with a long opposite-field single.

The Crimson tacked on three more in the sixth with a Wilson walk; three straight singles by Tom Stack-Babich, Rogers, and shortstop Jeff Stoeckel; and a sacrifice fly by junior Matt Kramer.

Perlman (4-1) was again stellar, scattering nine hits and striking out four. The rookie got a hand from his defense in the second inning, when Matt Nuzzo was thrown out at the plate trying to score from first on a double. The relay throw from Stoeckel was high, and as senior catcher Andrew Casey went up to grab it, he came down on top of Nuzzo, pinning him until he could apply the tag.

Sophomore Adam Cole came on for the seventh and fanned two in the first of his two appearances on the afternoon.

—Staff writer Jonathan Lehman can be reached at jlehman@fas.harvard.edu.