Harvard Baseball Drops Final Midweek Game at Holy Cross

After being eliminated from Ivy League Tournament contention in a sweep loss to Penn over the weekend, the Harvard baseball team looked to recover momentum in a midweek matchup at Holy Cross. Unfortunately for the Crimson (8-26, 6-12 Ivy), untimely errors and extra base knocks by the Crusaders (19-25, 12-11 Patriot) proved too much to overcome in a 12-9 loss.

Harvard was originally supposed to make the trip to Worcester on March 24, but inclement weather led the game to be rescheduled.

Looking to change its momentum after dropping four straight Ancient Eight matchups last week, the Crimson turned to senior lefthander Brian Dowling on the bump. The elder statesman of the rotation showed his savviness early, picking off the leadoff batter after a single. Dowling used his crafty release to navigate the first two innings unscathed.

Offensively, Harvard managed to get ducks on the pond and advance them thanks to sloppy defense by the Crusaders. However, the Crimson stranded three runners in the first two innings and left with nothing to show for it. In the second inning, the road team had runners on second and third with one out, but a pop out and a fly out left them on the bases.

Junior shortstop Jack Rickheim stayed hot after his two-homerun weekend, opening scoring with a deep shot to left field.

After senior third baseman Jordan Kang popped out, the only time he got out on a four-hit and a walk afternoon, a captain Gio Colasante hit-by-pitch started a two-out rally. An errant pick-off attempt sent G. Colasante to second, and a senior centerfielder Max Lane shot up the middle brought the captain home.

Just as it seemed Harvard had gained all of the momentum, it all came crashing down. Holy Cross was no longer fooled by Dowling’s breaking balls the second time through the lineup, as everyone got an at-bat in the bottom of the third. The Crusaders batted for the cycle in the inning and hung a six on the scoreboard to take a 6-2 lead.

In the fourth inning, things calmed back down as both sides went three-up-three-down. The fifth inning also looked to be a quiet one as the first five combined batters were retired, but Holy Cross came alive with two outs.

A walk, single, then double tallied two more runs for the home team and forced the Crimson to the bullpen. Senior Jack Smith came on in relief for Dowling, who was still responsible for the runner on second. An error at first followed by a triple brought two unearned runs home before Harvard made it out of the inning down 10-2.

Neither team could scratch a run across in the sixth, but both returned to activity in the seventh.

Rickheim started things off by reaching via an error. Kang, the Crimson’s star of the game, put an exclamation mark on his performance with a two-run homer. G. Colasante, who was hit by two pitches during the game, built on the momentum with a base hit. A double by Lane knocked the captain in for the second time, and sophomore left fielder Gavin Smith got his lone RBI on a three-hit day, driving in Lane.

With two outs and the bases loaded, sophomore second baseman Cullen Stone came up with the opportunity to trim or erase the lead. Unfortunately for Harvard, Stone fell via strikeout after a 0-2 battle.

The Crusaders quickly snatched back two of their insurance runs, taking advantage of free passes and errors by the Crimson with timely hits.

Trailing 12-6 entering the top of the ninth, Harvard turned to a pinch hitter, junior catcher Dominic Brancel, to lead things off. Brancel ate the first pitch of the at-bat and took first base.

Hit batters became a theme of the inning as three Crimson batters reached base via HBP. A sacrifice fly by Rickheim brought home the first run of the inning. A Kang walk loaded the bases, and a G. Colasante HBP brought home another run.

A single by Lane brought home his third and final RBI of the day. With the bases loaded, the hot Smith worked his way to a full count. Smith ultimately came up with the short end of the stick, striking out swinging to end the game at 12-9.

Harvard had more hits and fewer errors than Holy Cross on the day, but came up short due to leaving 14 runners on base in comparison to the Crusaders’ six.

The Crimson will look to come up with more timely hits this weekend in its final series of the season. Harvard will end the year on the road at Princeton (14-24, 8-10). The series will begin with a double-header on Saturday, May 2, at 11:30 a.m EDT, with the second game following. The series and season will conclude on Sunday at noon. All three games will be streamed on ESPN+

—Staff writer Reed M. Trimble can be reached at [email protected].