Baseball Goes One for Four on Opening Weekend

The Harvard baseball team played outside for the first time this year over the weekend, but it did not take the Crimson long to adjust to the cold.

Playing in Charlottesville, Va., on Friday, Harvard (1-3) opened up its season with a dramatic 2-1 victory over Bucknell (1-9). Tied at one in the bottom of the tenth with two outs and two strikes, captain Rob Wineski singled up the middle to bring home the winning run.

The walk-off win matched the Crimson’s victory total in its first 17 games last year and was coach Bill Decker’s first win at the helm of Harvard.

Harvard resumed action at Davenport Field against No. 19 Virginia (12-0) just an hour after the win over the Bison. Although the Crimson out-hit the Cavaliers, the team could not string together any offense and fell, 3-0.

Harvard played both teams again on Saturday and lost both after taking early leads.

VIRGINIA 11, HARVARD 5

The Crimson jumped out to a two-run lead in the top of the first after a series of Cavaliers’ throwing errors. Junior shortstop Carlton Bailey scored on a wild pitch and freshman second baseman Mitch Klug followed shortly after on a throwing error.

But a seven-run Virginia fifth doomed Harvard to an 11-5 loss. Sophomore Matt Timoney (0-1) could not finish the inning after coming in in relief for starter Peter Kaplan, who had allowed three earned through four.

Timoney gave up six runs on four hits,, before being pulled with two outs left in the fifth. The Cavaliers ended the inning up 10-4 and cruised from there, as the Crimson only managed two more hits.

BUCKNELL 7, HARVARD 5

Harvard got off to a similarly hot start in the first of Saturday’s double-gamer, going up 4-0 through two as freshman DJ Link and sophomore Brandon Kregel both tallied two RBIs in the first and second, respectively.

But, just as would happen later that afternoon, a disastrous bottom of the fifth prevented the Crimson from securing the victory, with the Bison bagging six runs on six hits to jump out to a 7-4 lead. The teams would remain scoreless thereafter, as Bucknell and Harvard split their weekend series.

Kregel, Link, and Bailey finished the weekend tied for the team-lead with seven hits.

VIRGINIA 3, HARVARD 0

The Crimson was up for a tough test in the form of Virginia starting pitcher Brandon Waddell, who struck out 15 of the 18 batters he faced in his last outing against Toledo.

Waddell was again dominant in his outing against Harvard, surrendering three hits and striking out seven in six innings.

“He had one of the best change-ups I’ve ever seen,” senior pitcher Matt Doyle said. “A lot of hitters were saying, ‘Great change-up.’”

Although Harvard failed to put up any runs, the Crimson out-hit the Cavaliers seven to five. But while Virginia effectively manufactured their runs, Harvard had no extra-base hits and managed multiple hits in an inning just once.

All three Virginia runs came on sacrifice flies as the Cavaliers played small ball to snag the win.

Bailey paced the Crimson offense with two hits. Link, making his first start behind the plate, also registered a pair of singles.

HARVARD 2, BUCKNELL 1

Playing with a starting lineup in which the first six batters were either freshmen or sophomores, senior leadership still came through when it mattered most for the Crimson.

Kregel got things going for Harvard in the bottom of the tenth when he smacked a two-strike pitch for a triple, his second hit of the game. After two Crimson batters failed to advance Kregel and sophomore Ethan Ferreira was intentionally walked, the stage was set for Wineski.

With the game tied and two outs, Wineski found himself in a 0-2 hole. But the captain slapped the next pitch back up the middle to bring home the winning run and secure Harvard’s first win of the year.

“To win in that kind of fashion, it galvanizes the team and gets everyone to pull on the same rope,” Wineski said. “It’s very exciting, and seeing your teammates’ faces after that all happy and pumped up, there’s just no better feeling in the world.”

The Crimson received two solid pitching performances from senior Matt Doyle and junior Baron Davis (1-0), who combined to allow no earned runs and only five hits.

“It’s a testament to the coaches and how hard those pitchers worked,” Wineski said. “They put in so much work behind the scenes, and they obviously came together today.”

—Staff writer David Steinbach can be reached at dsteinbach@college.harvard.edu. Follow him on Twitter @BigBach12.