Harvard Heads South for Spring Break Trip

The Harvard baseball team looks to rebound from a four-game sweep last weekend at the University of Alabama-Birmingham with yet another southern tour—this time through Louisiana. The Crimson (1-7) will hope to solidify its pitching rotation and get the bats moving more consistently over the next week before opening Ivy League play the following weekend.

“We’re hoping to be a little more consistent and play some complete games,” senior Tom Stack-Babich said. “We’ve played well in parts of each game, but we really need to put the hitting together in order to get some good games down south.”

Harvard will open a three-game series today against Centenary College (9-3) and then stop by Monday at the University of Louisiana-Monroe (10-8). Following two night games at No. 5 Louisiana State University (15-4), the Crimson will wrap up its trip at the University of New Orleans (5-12). After playing seven games in as many days, Harvard will only have one day of rest before kicking off conference play with consecutive doubleheaders at Columbia (1-12) and at Penn (7-5) next weekend.

Although he acknowledged that traveling to four different schools over this trip will be tough, Crimson coach Joe Walsh said he believed that taking a more simple approach will prevent his team from being overwhelmed by the challenges ahead.

“If we try to look ahead at the duration of the trip and take that attitude we won’t play well,” Walsh said. “We need to go down there and just look at our next opponent, and we need to win some ballgames to get some good feelings around the clubhouse. That’s all everyone is thinking—we’re down here to win games.”

After a disappointing 2008 season, and a slow start this year, this Spring Break trip and the opening of Ivy League play could very well set a defining tone for the rest of the season. But the Crimson will not have an easy start to its seven-game southern stretch, with a Centenary squad up first that is currently riding a six-game winning streak during which it has outscored its opponents 64-14.

While Centenary presents a difficult opening slate for Harvard, the team’s biggest challenge comes against defending SEC champion LSU. The fifth-ranked Tigers feature a stacked lineup anchored by slugger Sean Ochinko, who is batting .464 with six home runs and 27 RBI in just 19 games.

“We’re definitely going to play some good teams,” Stack-Babich said. “I don’t think we’re looking to go undefeated, but we hope that we are able to get the pitching shored up and get the hitting in sync.”

The state of Harvard’s pitching staff is certainly a cause for concern for the team.

The Crimson has had great outings from sophomore Dan Berardo and freshmen Conner Hulse and Brent Suter, but the rotation has been dealt a huge blow by the loss of sophomore ace Max Perlman. Perlman will not travel south with the team and will instead visit well-known sports surgeon Dr. James Andrews to have his injured elbow examined.

“Losing Max at the top of our rotation is a major loss,” Walsh said. “We’re hoping that that the MRI that will be read by Dr. Andrews results in something that will get him back to us, but at this point it unfortunately looks pretty serious. Even so, our rotation is shaping up really nicely with Berardo, Hulse, and Suter, but we’ll spend time on this trip still looking for that fourth guy who can wrap up the rotation as well as a closer. Hopefully by about the middle of the week we’ll think of saving some of our stronger pitching for the Ivy games.”

Playing teams already in midseason form will be a challenge for the Crimson, but will also give the team a taste of how competitive the Ivy League season will be. Still, Harvard realizes the need to conserve its energy for its pair of doubleheaders against Columbia and Penn.

“We are definitely excited about playing these teams and hopefully getting some good wins in, but we still want to make sure we get a good start against the Ivy League teams,” Stack-Babich said.

Walsh echoed the need for the Crimson to stay alert and organized throughout the trip, especially with a number of players battling through illness.

“The big thing on my mind is definitely keeping the guys fresh going into this trip with the length of travel we’re going to have, but we are struggling with this virus that has been hitting our team lately,” Walsh said. “We’re definitely going to focus on structure this week, and I know that once everybody gets out on the mound we will be ready.”