Baseball Splits Weekend Games With Brown

After losing the first tilt of each doubleheader on Saturday and Sunday, the Harvard baseball team responded with a lopsided inning in both rubber games to even the series.

Playing against Brown (8-17, 2-10 Ivy) in a doubleheader at O’Donnell Field, the Crimson (8-20, 3-7 Ivy) exploded with a six-hit, seven-run seventh inning on Saturday and a seven-hit, eight-run first frame on Sunday to split the weekend’s games.

But despite these breakout innings, Harvard’s offense often struggled throughout the weekend. The team could not get the bats going in the first and third games and fell by a one-run margin in each.

“From an offensive standpoint, we had some runners in scoring position and it’s our responsibility, whoever is in that batter’s box, to produce,” Crimson coach Bill Decker said.

HARVARD 13, BROWN 3

After failing to score in Sunday’s opening game, the Crimson wasted no time putting runs on the board by batting around to open the second contest.

In the first inning, singles by co-captain infielder Kyle Larrow and junior outfielder Mike Martin set up a three-run home run from junior outfielder Brandon Kregel. A series of walks and singles continued the rally and Harvard seized an 8-0 lead after the first.

The Crimson scattered runs throughout the game to build on this early lead, while senior pitcher Daniel Moskovits and a trio of Harvard relievers held the Bears to only three runs.

Despite surrendering a two-run home run to Brown’s senior outfielder Daniel Massey in the seventh, Moskovits notched seven strikeouts over six-and-one-third innings to record his first win of the season. The senior has posted a 1.53 ERA so far this year.

The first two hitters in the lineup for the Crimson, senior utilityman Carlton Bailey and Larrow, combined for six hits and four runs on the afternoon.

Two doubles off the bat of junior co-captain catcher Ethan Ferreira in the fifth and seventh innings capped off the Harvard offense, which totaled 16 hits in the victory.

BROWN 1, HARVARD 0

In a pitching duel that came down to the final at-bat, Bears junior Dave St. Lawrence edged out Crimson freshman Nick Gruener to notch Brown’s second win of the weekend.

Two leadoff singles in the seventh inning gave the Bears its first scoring opportunity of the game. Brown wasted no time as junior outfielder Will Marcal hit a single to left to knock in what proved to be the decisive run.

After surrendering a hit in the first, Gruener threw five hitless innings and struck out six to keep Harvard locked in a 0-0 tie with the Bears.

But a lifeless Crimson offense, which managed just four hits off St. Lawrence, spoiled Gruener’s efforts.

HARVARD 10, BROWN 8

Facing a four-run deficit in the seventh inning, the top of the order came to bat for the Crimson. After the first three hitters loaded the bases, an RBI single by Kregel and a two-RBI double by Ferreira cleared the bases to bring Harvard within one.

After going 0-for-4 in the first game, Ferreira went 3-for-5 with three RBIs in the latter contest.

“We decided to stay with [Ferreira] in the second game,” Decker said. “He’s an upperclassmen, and he’s one of our captains, so we decided to give him a chance. He relaxed and refocused himself and worried about the moment. He came up big for us.”

After the Bears’ second pitching change of the inning, the Crimson reloaded the bases with an infield single that trickled up the third-base line. Junior first baseman Nick Saathoff brought home two with a single to left that put Harvard back on top, 8-7.

Bailey closed out the seven-run seventh with a two-RBI double to right to give Harvard a 10-7 lead.

The Crimson seized a 3-1 advantage early in the game, but Brown battled back by belting four home runs off junior pitcher Matt Timoney.

After Harvard retook the lead in the seventh, senior pitcher Sam Dodge came in and notched a two-inning save to give the Crimson its first win of the weekend.

BROWN 5, HARVARD 4

The Crimson had the potential winning run only 90 feet away in the bottom of the seventh, but ultimately the team could not convert.

Down to its final out, two singles by Bailey and Larrow set Harvard up for some late-inning heroics. Martin, who already had a pair of hits in the game, hit a towering fly ball that was misplayed by the Brown right fielder to score Bailey and tie the game at four.

“All we needed was baserunners to get back in the game,” Martin said. “We didn’t need to do it all with one swing. We got clutch two-out hits, which is what we’ve really, really been struggling on all year.”

But Kregel struck out to strand the runners at second and third.

Harvard could not maintain its early 3-0 lead, as sophomore pitcher Sean Poppen surrendered five hits and four runs in the fifth inning. Poppen gave up just one hit and struck out seven in five other innings of work.

After the Crimson pushed the game to extras, senior Zack Olson replaced Poppen on the mound. Despite loading the bases, he managed to give up just a lone run on a sacrifice fly by Massey.

This run proved enough, however, as the Crimson went down quietly in the home half of the eighth to lose a tight opening game of the series, 5-4.