The cats who swallowed the canary

Mr. Jim Meehan with a photographic account of yesterday's finish:


(chaos ensues)

Speaking of Meehans, Yale's recap has a slightly different account of the end, one that helps clarify things still further:

Wilson, the Harvard third baseman, lost track of the ball and it landed just inside the foul line. Confused because the infield fly rule had not been called, Gorynski attempted to retreat to third base, but since it was still a force play he was tagged out for the second out of the inning. Sawyer, realizing he was obligated to move to third base, broke for the bag after Wilson attempted to run the ball to the mound to call time. [Taylor] Meehan, the shortstop, realizing the situation, broke for third and Wilson's throw to Meehan at the bag beat the slide of Sawyer to end the game with the Crimson on top 8-7.

Ah, so. That sounds like a hell of an alert play by the sophomore.
They do it all again today. Sporting News CT will air today's games as well, starting at noon. A commenter tells us that it will be Unger rather than Brunnig starting the other game. Walsh had said last week that he almost wished he had a fifth game to get his two-sport contributor a start. Now he does.

UPDATE: Back, and to the left. Back, and to the left. The plot thickens. Someone who sounds like they were there contributes the following:

It was actually much more confusing than reported. Morgan and Taylor switched positions-so Morgan was playing shortstop, but that didn't get recorded because they had just switched on the field. The umpire did call the infield fly-but he thought it was going to be foul. He said "infield fly if the ball goes fair". So the dropped ball was in fact out #2, Morgan's tag of the 3rd base runner was out #3 and the tag of the runner from 2nd to 3rd was out #4. I would check in with John Wilde if you want to know how it went down. He said he'd never seen such a finish to a game in all the years he'd been watching.

Amazing. Well, that answers Brian's earlier question about why the infield fly rule wasn't called--apparently it was.

Take them any way you can get them

Harvard has won a wild second game, 8-7. With the bases loaded in the ninth, Steffan Wilson (whose double keyed a comeback from three runs down earlier) failed to catch what looked like a pop-up foul ball after it drifted back into fair territory. He picks the ball up, throws to the shortstop covering third to get the guy (Gorynski) there, then Sawyer (on second) gets tagged out at third, 6-5... or did he? I'm not sure whether the infield fly rule was involved--the radio call was less than certain--but perhaps if it was it shouldn't have been. It all sounded very confusing. Here is one attempt to clarify things. Regardless, what should've been bases loaded situation with two outs suddenly ended, largely because Steffan Wilson couldn't handle that ball.

That meant Javier Castellanos, who had relieved Matt Brunnig on that play, only faced one batter. In fact, he only threw one pitch. He will start tomorrow. Matt Brunnig threw a good number of pitches in relief (33), and one suspects that we'll see Brad Unger pitch in the other game, if not start it.

Brown and Dartmouth also split their doubleheader, meaning that after all this craziness, Harvard has not lost any ground. They are lucky.

Cole: 3/23, 7H, 3 ER. This is the first we've seen him struggle in the Ivy season. The Crimson also committed three errors, and survived what sounded like a couple of questionable calls on the basepaths.

UPDATE: Good job by Kurt the Harvard SID:

Then things got really weird as the game moved into its third hour. The first two batters reached base safely on singles to start the Yale ninth. After a sacrifice bunt and an intentional base on balls, Harvard went to Javier Castellanos to face Ryan Lavarnway. Lavarnway hacked at the first pitch he saw and sent a towering pop up down the third base line.

Infield fly was never called because it was not apparent that the ball would land in fair territory. Harvard's Wilson twisted around several times in an attempt to catch the pop at third base but could not in the swirling wind as the ball fell inches fair. With all three Yale runners staying close to their respective bags, Wilson was able to flip the ball to Brown, the team's shortstop. Brown tagged third base runner PJ Gorynski at the bag and then flied the ball back to Wilson at third who stepped on the bag to get Sawyer on a force play at third and end the game in front of a stunned crowd of 638.

Harvard loses Game One, 3-1

...and is losing Game Two, 5-4 in the sixth. The Sporting News CT link below is working.

Listen to the Yale games...

For real this time. Sporting News CT Online is audio streaming the games, and WYBC (1340 AM, not 94.3 from this screen) should have them as well.

Crockett Relaunch

Good news to report: pitcher Ben Crockett signed yesterday with the Somerset Patriots, defending champions of the independent Atlantic League.

The Patriots, who are managed by former Cy Young winner Sparky Lyle, open their season two weeks from today. We'll be watching.

Thanks to a notable Harvard alum for tipping us off to this story.

The Real Real Season Starts Tomorrow

And now, the three weekends that matter. The Gehrig Division's rather embarrassing display in inter-division play resulted in everyone in the Rolfe Division sporting either a 7-1 (H, B) or 6-2 (D, Y) record. With one game separating all four teams, something's gotta give. (Same deal in the other division, and so I echo Brian's note about not ruling out Princeton.)Today's Crimson preview doesn't tell us anything about the state of Morgan Brown's quad and whether it'll be him or Taylor Meehan (above) starting at short this weekend. What it does say is that this week's blowout loss to B.C. affected the Crimson, particularly Coach Walsh, in a deeper way than I would've expected:

“That’s the most devastating loss I’ve ever been involved in, as a coach or a player,” coach Joe Walsh said. “I’m just hoping it doesn’t do damage to the ballclub and to our mindsets.”

But this weekend brings Harvard the opportunity to forget Tuesday and regain its recent dominance in league play.

“We’re going to get past the B.C. game,” captain Morgan Brown said. “The Yale series this weekend is going to take all of our attention. What we need to do is take care of our Ivy League games.”

"Most devastating ever?" Really? A midweek game? Granted, the team managed only one hit, and got cuffed around pretty good and booted a lot of balls. But I still find it interesting that this loss meant so much, especially since I've always viewed the midweek games more as a chance for guys to get live game action in and to try out some other arms to get a better sense of what you have for Ivy exigencies. And it's not like we were throwing Cole or Haviland out there. Maybe there was something else. I wasn't there. Or maybe it's classic coach-speak. But it's interesting.

Yale has a young, happy team...

Schropp is not the only freshman to make an impression on this year's squad. Third baseman/designated hitter Charles Bush '09, right fielder Ryan Lavarnway '09 and pitcher Chris Walsh '09 have all made important contributions to the team this season, and team members said they expect the freshmen to do well against Harvard.

"Our freshmen have been playing well," pitcher Matt Fealey '06 said. "Everyone has just been doing what we've needed them to do. We have a good shot if we come out and play our best game and everyone continues playing the way they are."

The team has been performing well recently, handily defeating Penn and Cornell and splitting doubleheaders against Princeton and Columbia.

"Everyone is pepped up and playing well," Fealey said. "The guys are filling positions well. Some of the players who might not have had the chance to play at the beginning of the season have really stepped up."

...and a healthy respect for its rival.

Team members said they think Harvard will pose a challenge both offensively and defensively.

"[Harvard] is a really good team," Rasmussen said. "They've always put a good team together on field and performed well. It's going to be really competitive. Hopefully we'll be able to come away on top."

Elsewhere, Brown also has some productive freshmen.

The Boys in the Bubble

Interesting piece here on Harvard's soon-to-be-realized plans to install a seasonal bubble over Harvard Stadium.

A series of renovations slated to begin next month will change that, upgrading the 103-year-old National Historic Landmark to a multi-purpose facility available for year-round use by varsity, intramural, and club teams. The planned developments include replacing the grass field with a synthetic surface, installing lights on the stadium’s exterior, and providing for the implementation of a seasonal “bubble.” The project is estimated to cost around $5 million and will be funded by alumni contributions, according to Director of Athletics Robert L. Scalise...

Work on the stadium would begin next month and be completed in time for the fall 2006 football season, Scalise says...

The bubble will help alleviate an annual space crunch during long Northeast winters, which force the varsity baseball and softball teams to use Lavietes Pavilion or the Palmer Dixon Tennis Courts as practice facilities. Recent upgrades to Palmer Dixon, including the installation of synthetic turf, have helped ease the space problem. But the “winter fieldhouse solution” of the bubble is “one of the things we’re lacking right now,” Scalise says.

Are we happy? Sounds like we're happy:

The proposed renovations have also been met with approval by the varsity teams affected.

Harvard baseball coach Joe Walsh called the addition of the bubble “huge,” saying that the 100-yard winter fieldhouse will not only help his team—which has in the past practiced in the cramped confines of Palmer Dixon or Lavietes—but also his recruiting pitch.

“We’ve got a kid from Florida, two kids from the West Coast, and a kid from Arizona coming in next year,” Walsh says, “and it’s so nice to tell those guys, you know, this is what we’ve got. We’re going to be playing baseball, but it’s going to be indoors.”

Just what Harvard needed, another selling point for recruits.

Crockett and Birtwell

Two of the great pitchers of the modern era of Harvard baseball were released by their professional organizations in recent weeks, Ben Crockett '02 by the Rockies and John Birtwell '01 by the Tigers.

Can you count the Crockett memories? I remember the 17-strikeout game. I remember the time he came out of the bullpen to nail down a pivotal inning against Brown. I've never seen a pitcher carry a team over a stretch of games on any level like Ben Crockett over the last three weeks of the 2002 Ivy League season, the Crimson's return to glory. I remember the no-hitter against Dartmouth the season earlier in what turned out to be a meaningless game, the fourth game in the four-game series against Dartmouth, and ultimately feeling there was no way that game would've been meaningless had Crockett only gotten to throw one of the first games the day before in Hanover. I remember Crockett's final start, an NCAA Regional loss to Washington in Houston, and shaking his hand afterward, letting him know how much I enjoyed watching him pitch--something I wasn't generally inclined to do, but felt I had to as his Crimson career quietly ended. He was very gracious. Crockett and Chris Young were Ivy Co-Rookies of the Year in 1999, and I figured Crockett might also wind up in the Show one day, if only for a while. Injuries were unkind to him.

As for John Birtwell--well, Sonia, the Winthrop House dining hall checker still talks about him. So does anybody who saw him pitch. The sidearm delivery was almost as painful to watch as it must've been to face, but nobody fought harder. He was the team's obvious soul in 2001. And despite all of the standout Crockett moments I mentioned above, I suspect that years from now, Birtwell's 10 innings (in the early Ivy game, scheduled for 7) in a loss against Dartmouth after stepping in in relief the previous afternoon might reign as the signature pitching performance of Harvard baseball in my eyes. Joe Walsh once said of him, "If you could get a group of high school kids together, you’d just videotape [Birtwell] and show it to them. Then you could say ‘This is what a competitor is. This is what a battler is.’" As it happens, Shawn Haviland and Adam Cole were high schoolers right around that time, or a few short months thereafter. You've undoubtedly heard the name, gents. That's what a competitor was. That's what a battler was. We can only hope that someday we'll speak of you guys with similar reverence as Crockett and Birtwell. I think we might. But it'll be because of a lot more than you striking guys out.

Once upon a time, John Birtwell was the Tigers' Minor League Player of the Year, and Crockett was a 3rd round draft pick. Sometime before that, they weaved wonderful memories for themselves, their teammates and anyone else who cared to cross the bridge to Allston. I don't know what they want to do now, but if they're looking for another game, I sure hope they get it.

* * *

Congratulations to Cole, Ivy Rookie of the Week again, and Stefan Wilson, this week's Harvard rep on the Ivy Honor Roll.

More from Frank Herrmann

Be sure to check out the latest entry in his professional diary. Frank, if you read us: Take copious notes. There's a book contract in this for you, and you are a fun read.

Midweek malaise

Well, it's a midweek game. And that's about all we've got on this one.

Follow today's game at BC

Online through CSTV Gametracker here.

Crimson Coverage Highlights

With the winter sports out of the way, baseball has ascended to weekly featured status in the Crimson's Monday sports section, garnering a healthy four stories this week. Some highlights:
* Matt Vance does indeed have a torn labrum, but in a borderline ironic development, has torn it so thoroughly that it shouldn't prevent him from playing center field:

The sophomore speedster will remain a fixture at the top of the Crimson order and will continue to man the outfield, rather than slide into the designated hitter’s slot as once speculated.

Doctors have informed him that his labrum has been torn to the point where it cannot suffer any further damage, and so he will undergo shoulder surgery after the season and then begin a summer-long rehabilitation process, which should leave him ready for the fall of 2006...
Fielding, however, might be a somewhat different story. Although Vance showed no problems defensively in center against Columbia—he even dived on the grass on a handful of occasions—he said his throwing has noticeably suffered.

“I just can’t get a whole lot on the ball,” he said. “Everyone says I’m throwing it fine, but it hurts, a lot.”

Huh. Okay. Although it's unfortunate that the injury will keep the incredibly promising sophomore out of summer ball, we're naturally thrilled to hear that his blazing speed and baserunning savvy will remain at Harvard's disposal. I guess the lesson is, if you're gonna tear your labrum, do a complete job. (Warning: May not work for pitchers.)
* The best description of Adam Cole's early Ivy beastliness, courtesy of fellow ace Shawn Haviland:

Haviland struggled to find words for Cole’s recent success.

“He’s just...I guess I probably can’t swear,” Haviland said, adding, “I was impressed with him. For a freshman to come out there two games in a row like that—I mean, they didn’t have shot all day.”

* Morgan Brown remains day to day with his injured quad.
* Mere weeks ago, we worried about finding four starters capable of taking the hill for the all-important weekend games. Suddenly, we've got five:

Sophomore Brad Unger finished the game for the Crimson, recording all six of his outs via strikeout.

“When your starters are giving you such quality starts as we got from [Castellanos] and Brunnig,” Walsh said, “Unger came in and had six punchouts in two innings and you’re wishing you had a fifth game to throw him.”

* Finally, Harvey Mansfield, author of "Manliness" and renouned coot, was at the Columbia doubleheader on Sunday. He witnessed the manliest event of the weekend--Matt Kramer's hard (but clean) slide into second that took out a Lion infielder--and the least manly event, Columbia missing Kramer three times in the same at-bat in a lame attempt at retaliation.

Rude hosts

Looks like we've got a sweep. Harvard won the opener 13-5 and is already up 5-0 in the bottom of the first inning. Lance Salsgiver is not playing, presumably due to the stolen base episode in the first game.

UPDATE: Sweep. Spectacular pitching from Brunnig and Unger. Meanwhile, all the Rolfe teams swept except Dartmouth, which dropped an early game to Penn. Brown-Cornell and Yale-Princeton still have to make up doubleheaders, but it seems that the Gehrig Division as a whole is a long way behind its neighbor to the north.

Harvard leads 12-2

...or did, when I left. Castellanos had at one point retired 11 straight. Steffan Wilson hit his first O'Donnell home run. Morgan Brown, who had been taken out late in Game 2 yesterday, didn't play the first game. Word in the stands is some sort of quad issue. The only interesting story line in this one was catcher Matt Kramer's hard slide into second to break up a double play early in the game, injuring Columbia's 2B, and the message pitches that have ensued. Also, Lance Salsgiver stole a base with the Crimson up big, and was taken and chewed out shortly thereafter.

A note about O'Donnell scores and updates

The phone lines won't be fixed for today's games, so we probably won't have much to tell you until after both games. For the same reason, there will not be a radio broadcast.

Harvard wins, 7-0

Kinda stings to hold Penn to one run over 16 innings and walk away with a mere split, but such is life. Matt Vance played center both games. Castellanos and Brunnig get the starts tomorrow. Matt Brunnig appears to be a pretty good hitter, watching him. More once my fingers unfreeze.

Harvard loses, 1-0

Penn's Sean Abate, who had made all of two starts on the mound for the Quakers this year, has shut out the Crimson in Game One. My man at the scene says that Haviland looked dominant, especially with the curve, through six, and then Penn just started driving balls in the seventh, making great contact even on the first two outs... A huge win for the Penn program and new coach John Cole, to be sure. Meanwhile, Dartmouth emerged from a similar duel victorious with a 1-0 win over Columbia, and the Yale-Cornell and Brown-Princeton Rolfe-hosted doubleheaders have both been postponed due to rain.

Second game coming up. It's cold and the same rain is expected to hit the area. We'll see what happens.

Listen! Listen!

Ryan at WHRB Sports informs me that the games today and tomorrow will be available over WHRB's sports link. Which means that this link should give you live game audio.
UPDATE: Well, it seems they haven't gotten their act together yet, and both links merely offer hillbilly music...
UPDATE 2: It's 0-0 in the fifth with Haviland on the mound. Maybe the WHRB guys were only planning on doing the second game? Who knows.
UPDATE 3: Ryan tells me that Harvard athletics had apparently left their phone outlets exposed to the elements since last summer, and so none are working. This explains the lack of Gamecast as well.

A commenter informs us that Matt Vance will in fact be back in the lineup today.

The new scoreboard

Pretty sweet, especially compared to the old one. The hit/error indicator and inning-by-inning trackers were needed touches. And you gotta like the fact that it seems to be saying, hey, in this era, Harvard baseball teams routinely put up double-digit run totals and could throw up a 20 any game, and we need a scoreboard capable of keeping up.
Perhaps our next poll will ask who homers off the scoreboard (behind the trees in left field) first.

Some cause for concern...

Uh-oh.

Sophomore Matt Vance, the team’s de facto leadoff man—his ten steals lead the league—will be conspicuously absent from the outfield.

Vance stayed home yesterday to visit with doctors about what appeared to be a torn labrum, the principal muscle of the throwing shoulder.

Until Sunday’s game against Cornell, he had been playing through pain in centerfield. Vance denied that he would opt for surgery this early in the season, saying he planned to resume his normal place in the lineup for the rest of the season, probably at DH.

Departed slugger Zak Farkes ’06-’07 battled a similar injury early in his Harvard career, undergoing surgery in the summer after a 2003 sophomore campaign in which he set the Harvard single-season home run record.

In Vance’s absence, the Crimson managed only nine baserunners and two runs after senior Lance Salsgiver led off the game with his third home run.

Needless to say, our best wishes to Matt. We hope it's something that isn't quite so serious, and we hope it's something he can play through. How tremendous has Vance been this season?

	G	AVG	OBP	SLG	R	RBI	STL
Vance (season)	18	.324	.377	.451	18	10	10/10

Salsgiver hit in the leadoff spot today, and I imagine that's where we'll see him if it turns out it's best for Vance to eventually sit. But the injury's been there all season, and he hasn't been too affected by it as far as results go... something to keep an eye on.
Vance was in the outfield through the first Ivy weekend. We probably won't see him out there, so pencil him in at DH for the rest of the spring, or as long as he can go. When Vance has DHed this season, Salsgiver and Matt Rogers have spent the most time in center field. This could result in Rogers getting back in the lineup a bit more... or Salsgiver playing center and Tom Stack-Babich Chris Mackey playing the corner outfield positions.

The Annual Long Goodbye

What is it with Harvard, Holy Cross and extra inning games? At last year's home opener, Holy Cross outlasted the Crimson in a 14-inning thriller. This year, in Worcester, Harvard got some revenge, besting the Crusaders in 11 innings, 3-2. Morgan Brown led off the 11th with a double and came home to score what would turn out to be the game winning run on a Josh Klimkiewicz groundout. The Crimson has now won six straight and sports a .500 record.

Boxscore Punditry:
* The obvious question: Where was Matt Vance? Is his shoulder acting up again? Hopefully the Crimson will be instructive here tomorrow.
* With eight pitchers going only an inning or two each today, it's still unclear who your backend starters will be this weekend. I'd have to think Castellanos, after earning (surprisingly only) his second career win last week, has earned a second start. Neither Brad Unger nor Matt Brunnig pitched today. You'd have to think those are the leading candidates. I tend to think Brunnig will be back in there again.
* Brunnig didn't start, but the adventures of Matt Brunnig, Position Player continue unabated. With a man on and two out in the ninth in a tie game, Brunnig pinch hit for Tom Stack-Babich--who had already driven in a run with a second-inning RBI single--and grounded out to second.

Makeup at Holy Cross underway

A loyal reader notes that yesterday's rainout at Holy Cross was rescheduled for 3 pm today. Should have a result soon.

Harvard Baseball At Holy Cross this afternoon...

Maybe. No announcement on whether the weather will hold up. Rain forced the cancellation of yesterday's scheduled Holy Cross game against UMass.
Update: As the commenter noted, no game today.

Six Degrees of Arthur Hendricks III

Former Harvard slugger Trey Hendricks is moving his way up through the big leagues' No. 1 farm system. After spending a second summer with the short-season Yakima Bears in 2005, batting .296 with 8 HR and 42 RBI, Trey is expected to bat third and play left field when the South Bend Silver Hawks, Class A affiliate of Arizona Diamondbacks, take the field for their season opener this Thursday.

Trey's teammate in South Bend--at least in the short term--will be Justin Upton, the No. 1 overall pick in last year's draft and brother of soon-to-be Devil Ray shortstop B.J.

Hendricks could find himself providing the protection for Upton in the lineup once the phenom joins the team. Still, it won't be Hendricks' biggest brush with baseball celebrity. His most famous former teammate is still this guy. (Note the third paragraph down.)

Mighty Righties

Shawn Haviland was named Ivy League Pitcher of the Week today, and Adam Cole its Rookie of the Week. Lance Salsgiver was also named to the Ivy honor roll. The Ivy League weekly awards are always an interesting blend of communism and utter mystery. (For example, I am reasonably sure that Josh Klimkiewicz, arguably the best power hitter in the Ivy League over the past four years, hasn't sniffed a weekly honor roll since his freshman year).
So nobody lose sleep wondering where Josh or Steffan Wilson are this week. This is pretty much the way these things work. Just keep winning. Congratulations Adam and Shawn.

He'd rather be Fishing

Congratulations to Mike Hill '93. The former Harvard baseball standout has signed a contract extension to remain assistant GM of the Marlins through 2010. No terms here, but evidently it was good enough to keep him from interviewing with the Reds.

Key to winning in the Ivies: Just Get Lucky?

A little too punch-drunk after Columbia's weekend split put the Lions atop the Gehrig Division, the Columbia Spectator today makes a suspect (read: wrong) argument about the nature of the Ivy baseball season. Arguing that Columbia might be able to ride "some good luck" into contention this year, Jon Kamran invokes the so-called "randomness" of the Major League Baseball playoffs--how else could Billy Beane's 'Moneyball' approach not have yet yielded any World Series trophies?--to illustrate a similar chaos theory in the Ivy League regular season. Because the Ivy season is so short, Kamran opines, it makes for a free-for-all that does not necessarily reward "true ability," but is instead susceptible to outside factors, such as luck. Here is the key (read: most wrong) passage:

The Ivy baseball season follows that same small sample size. Only 20 games long, it brings the same element of luck that plagued Beane’s teams in the playoffs to conference play.

Think about it this way. A ball drops 10 feet too short of the fence, and three men are left on base in a one run game. Maybe there was a little more of a headwind than usual just for that one moment. That little headwind just completely changed the game.

Or say a shortstop commits an error with several men on base—the same error he would have made with no men on base. Once again, just a bit of bad luck, but it leads to several runs on the scoreboard.

Couple that with the inconsistencies of youth, and the Ivy baseball season has an undeniable element of luck to it—which could leave the Lou Gehrig division race wide open.

Now, let's review a list of the Lou Gehrig Division winners from the nine seasons prior to last year:

1996 Princeton
1997 Princeton
1998 Princeton
1999 Princeton
2000 Princeton
2001 Princeton
2002 Princeton
2003 Princeton
2004 Princeton

In other words, the Lou Gehrig Division is the NL East of the Ivy League. Either Princeton coach Scott Bradley is the luckiest man in Ivy League athletics, or luck has little to do with winning in this conference.

Here's where Karman is off: yes, the small sample size of the Ivy baseball season may be responsible for minor discrepancies, such as disproportionately inflating or deflating an individual player's statistics. A hot streak can turn a solid player into an all-Ivy honoree, just as a brief slump can banish a projected starter to the bench (hello, Tom Stack-Babich). But the standings are nowhere near as susceptible to this randomness effect. Why? Because the setup of the schedule--by far the most compact series format in college baseball, squeezing four games into two weekend days--does a good job of ironing out any irregularities and turning the Ivy League into as true of a meritocracy as possible. In the Ivy League's format, a team that relies on just one or two stud pitchers--or on a lineup keyed by just one or two sluggers--is usually exposed by Sunday afternoon. It's the team with pitching depth, that executes the fundamentals most consistently, that wins out. Luck may propel a team to one or two wins in a given weekend, but going .500 has never been enough to play for the league championship. Every dog--or Columbia Lion--may have its day, but you need to take three of four to win in the Ivy League, and that demands more than a good headwind or a couple well-placed Texas leaguers.

The Gehrig division may be, as Kamran says, "wide open" this year. But if it is, it's parity, not luck, that accounts for the balance. And I'll still take Princeton to win the division.

Happy Major League Opening Day, everyone.

The week that was, from the paper of record

The Crimson wraps up the team's spring break with three stories:

- The mixed results from Florida are chronicled here.

- Jonathan Lehman covered the Princeton sweep in person, and reports that, according to Walsh, Princeton coach Scott Bradley has called this year's Harvard lineup the best he's seen:

Senior Josh Klimkiewicz and Wilson propelled the Crimson to a harder-than-it-looked 8-2 win to sweep the twinbill from the Tigers with three combined home runs.

Klimkiewicz rocketed out solo shots in the third and sixth, and Wilson iced the contest with a three-run jack in the ninth that provided the final margin.

“Klimkiewicz and Wilson back to back are pretty good guys,” head coach Joe Walsh said. “You can’t make a mistake to either one of those guys. [Princeton head coach Scott] Bradley mentioned he thought this was the best lineup he’s seen that we’ve had, with Klimkiewicz and Wilson in the middle of it.”

- Alex McPhillips recaps Sunday's doubleheader at Cornell, paying special attention to how Lance Salsgiver's improved control of the strike zone has taken him to the next level as a hitter. To wit:

No player embodied the experience better than Lance Salsgiver, who has added plate patience to his already well-rounded offensive arsenal.

The senior from Davison, Mich. reached base nine times in ten plate appearances, drawing five walks and smashing four hits, including his first home run of the season. He scored seven times during the day.

“I think honestly, a lot of it’s pitch selection,” said Salsgiver, who raised his average to a blistering .393 during the year. His on-base percentage ballooned to .480. “You wait for your good fastball, stay back, get good pitches, and hit them.”

Off to the races

In March, sophomore Matt Vance told the Crimson one of his goals for this season was to try to keep up with Dartmouth's Will Bashelor in stolen bases. But with the Ivy League's opening weekend of play now in the books, it's Vance who's setting the pace in that category.

With four steals this weekend, Vance moved into first place in the league with 10 steals in 10 attempts. Harvard's Lance Salsgiver is second with eight steals, tied with Dartmouth's Jason Blydell. Bashelor, with six, is fifth.

As a team, the Crimson's 33 steals are tops in the league, not to mention well ahead of last year's pace. Combine this with the fact that Harvard's .441 slugging percentage is second only to Brown, and you begin to see how dangerous this lineup really is.

Four and oh!

Harvard completed its weekend sweep of the Gehrig Division's top teams with a 12-6 win in the second game. More of the same: Wilson homered (3), Klimkiewicz went 3-for-6 and drove in three runs, Salsgiver and Vance wrought havoc on the basepaths. We'll have more on this later on. The one difference here was that starter Matt Brunnig ran into a bit of trouble in the third and fourth innings, but ultimately Brad Unger was able to shut down Cornell down the stretch, turning in 3 1/3 innings of no-hit ball.

Lots to talk about later this week, but I doubt Joe Walsh could've asked for much better than he got this weekend, particularly out of the sticks.

Harvard wins 14-3

Homers from Lance and Vance, 5 RBI for Klimkiewicz. It looks like they're having tech difficulties up north, because both Harvard and Cornell have removed the links to the Gametracker and the Live Stat application never budged. We do have the early game boxscore.

It's Brunnig time!

It's Castellanos in the 7-inning game

Well, we whiffed on that one. Gametracker isn't up yet, but Cornell's separate live stat tracker has Javy C. taking the mound. Wilson is at first and Rogers at third, Klim DHing and Stack-Babich again sitting in favor of Chris Mackey. Matt Kramer gets his first Ivy start at catcher... then again, Harry Douglas was in there for all of one inning yesterday. So we'll see.

The opposing pitcher is Tom Laughlin, a community college transfer and something of an unknown quantity. He's given up just one earned run in 10 innings this year.

April Fool

In case you missed the link Marty posted earlier today, the Daily Princetonian published this weekend preview yesterday. It contained this gem:

As potent as the Harvard offense is, the Tigers can hope to win many runs back from the Crimson by taking advantage of the team's suspect starting rotation and bullpen. Harvard's team ERA is an embarrassing 8.47, and no individual starter's numbers are worth writing home about.

Someone please remember to send Karl Micka-Foos, Daily Princetonian senior writer, a postcard from the NCAA regionals.

KKKKKKKKKKKing Cole

We'll get to the routinely underrated Josh Klimkiewicz's two-homer game at some point later (as well as Steffan Wilson's recent discovery of April moonshots, one that seems to be working out well for all involved). We'll eventually wonder what it means that Jason Brown appears to have become the Crimson's closer, and ponder the cosmic significance of Matt Brunnig's 2-for-4 showing as the DH today. Let's put all of that aside for the moment and simply say: Welcome to the Ivy League, Adam Cole.

	IP	H	R	ER	K	BB	2B	3B
Cole (W)	7.2	6	2	2	11	2	1	0

At some point, we'll go into the archives and try to dig up the last Harvard Ivy League pitching debut that was this promising, and in this big a game. For now, let it suffice to say that I can't wait to see this guy at O'Donnell.
Pretty good day for the Crimson. Two big road wins over a foe that routinely makes it to the end, two very strong performances by the frontline starters and a nice display of pop. Hopefully they can keep it going tomorrow against Cornell, which split with Dartmouth today. And hopefully, Princeton will show up angry against the Big Green.

Walsh mixes things up for Game 2...

...to say the least. Cole is starting, as expected. And leading off for Harvard... the catcher... freshman Harry Douglas. Stack-Babich is sitting, Chris Mackey is playing left and batting sixth (actually, that's not much of a surprise). And batting eighth... the designated hitter... Matt Brunnig. Brendan Byrne, meanwhile, bats behind him in the ninth spot.

So this should be fun. So far, Douglas has scored, and the bases are loaded for Chris Mackey as Gavin Fabian is clearly struggling with his control.

Perfect in the Ivies

Haviland finishes what he started and the Crimson wins, 4-1. I'm guessing Adam Cole in the second game, but pretty much anyone's guess is as good as mine.
Walsh went with Vance leading off, followed by Salsgiver, Wilson, Klimkiewicz and Stack-Babich with Morgan Brown dropped down to sixth, a lineup that I really like.

If you're following on Gamecast, be sure to go back to the schedule page (or through the scoreboard) to load the separate game. I'm pretty sure it doesn't automatically load in the same window.

Oh, and because it's never too early to start scoreboard watching: Cornell beat Harvard's division rival Dartmouth by a 2-1 score in Ithaca.

Rain Delay?

Harvard leads Princeton 4-1 in the 6th inning of the 7 inning opener. The Gametracker has stopped, and given the forecast in Princeton, it's likely the weather has interrupted things.



That should mean the end of the day for Shawn Haviland, who has put together a great start just when he needed to: 5 IP, 1 R (unearned), 5H, 0BB, 7K. He has outpitched Princeton ace Erik Stiller, who got taken deep by Steffan Wilson in the first. Incredibly, it was Wilson's first home run in over a year. Matt Vance, the other sophomore stud, is 2-for-3 and scored on the Wilson homer.

UPDATE: Nope, play has resumed and Shawn is still in. The many limits of Gamecast, folks.

Expect Princeton's Best

The Daily Princetonian expects Stiller and junior Eric Walz (1.71 ERA) to start today's games. You can follow the game on the Gametracker here. If Princeton radio covers this, we'll provide a link there as well. But since the station does not seem to have posted its spring schedule yet, we're not holding our breath.

Crimson Beats St. Thomas, Ivy Season Starts Saturday

Things we'll probably see slightly less of starting this Saturday, a partial list:
1. Matt Brunnig, outfielder

Because it's unsure how often we'll get to do it again, we'll mention here that Matt went 0-for-3 with a walk as the starting left fielder, reached on an error and scored in Thursday's 8-5 win over St. Thomas. Adam Cole and Shawn Haviland got light work in a game in which Harvard used seven pitchers. That should put them in line to start the Saturday games at Princeton, with Cole presumably taking the hill in the early (7-inning) game. We expect Brunnig to start the Sunday 7-inning game against Cornell. The identity of Sunday's other starter is a bit murkier, but the official SoBB guess is freshman lefty Ryan Watson gets the nod over Javy Castellanos, Brad Unger and Jake Bruton.

Matt Vance played center field for the first time since shoulder issues forced him to DH. One can assume that he'll be a fixture there with Salsgiver in right and perhaps a few different looks in left--Tom Stack-Babich (whose bat will likely be in the lineup every game one way or the other) and freshman Matt Rogers will be your likely LF/DH candidates, with Chris Mackey becoming a part of the conversation again with his strong hitting over the course of the break.

How many of those games does Matt Kramer start at catcher? The sophomore has started five games over the past week and it .389 in 18 at-bats so far, including his first home run. Kramer went 0-for-4 tonight before being lifted late in the game for junior Andrew Casey.

Yesterday's Final: Fla. Int'l 10, Harvard 1

Another rough go of it last night. A Tom Stack-Babich double in the eighth was responsible for Harvard's only run, as the offense has been quieted two nights in a row since Monday's explosion. Josh Klimkiewicz and Steffan Wilson had two hits apiece, but the top three guys in the order were 1-for-12 last night.

Taylor Meehan, who had pitched well in two relief appearances so far this season, struggled as last night's starter. He did bear down to escape unscathed from a jam in the third with runners at second and third and one out, but was lifted in the fifth for Jason Brown.

Tonight's game, against St. Thomas at 7pm, is Harvard's final tuneup before heading north for Saturday's doubleheader at Princeton.

Name that Starter

Harvard meets Florida International tonight. At 7 pm, you'll be able to follow the game live here.

So, who gets the start tonight? Post your prediction in the comments section anytime in the next hour. Winner gets a prize. Keep in mind that Princeton looms on Saturday, which would seem to preclude Adam Cole or Shawn Haviland except maybe for a shortened stint. My guess: junior Jake Bruton gets a turn to show his stuff.

Looking for a lefty, Walsh leans on rookies

Besides figuring out his weekend rotation, skipper Joe Walsh seems also to be using the Crimson’s nonconference schedule to identify a reliable lefthander that he can use at will out of the pen.

It’s an important role: many are the late-game situations where a critical out against an opposing team’s lefthanded slugger can be the difference between preserving a lead or blowing it, keeping a game close or seeing it slip away. During the stretch run of Harvard’s 2002 title run, southpaw Kenon Ronz thrived in this spot. Between Ronz and then-senior Mike Dryden, Harvard had a reliable lefty-righty combo setting up for that year’s closer, Barry Wahlberg. It made for predictable late-game situations, which, in turn, inspired confidence in close ballgames.

While much remains up in the air with regard to the respective late-inning roles of righties such as Steffan Wilson, Lance Salsgiver, Jason Brown and Taylor Meehan, among others, a hierarchy may be emerging among the team’s lefties. Senior Mike Dukovich entered the season as the incumbent, but has struggled in his first four appearances. Meanwhile, Walsh has displayed growing confidence in a pair of rookies: Ryan Watson and Hampton Foushee. Of the two, Watson makes for a particularly interesting case, since Walsh seems inclined to give him every chance of making the rotation, but both have been relied on-—and both have showed hints of promise—-in this early going.

Consider the trial-by-fire manner Walsh has utilized his two rookies, starting with Watson:

· In the team's second game against Florida, with Harvard trying to stay in striking distance down 4-0, Walsh brings Watson on for his first collegiate appearance with one out and a runner on third to face the lefthanded hitting Brian Jeroleman. Watson retires Jeroleman on a fly-out, though it's deep enough to get the run home, and later induces a groundout to retire the side. Despite encountering some expected jitters--Watson walked four, threw a wild pitch and committed a balk--he only allows one run, unearned in two full innings.
· In the seventh inning of Saturday's loss to Jacksonville, with two runs already home to grow the Dolphins' lead to 8-3, Watson is brought in to face the lefthanded-hitting Logan James with runners on second and third and just one out. He has a rough go of it, giving up four singles before getting the inning's final two outs.
· Then, just last night, Watson earns his first start against Barry. He struggled--he walked five and served up back-to-back gopher balls--but got four of his first five outs on Ks (all swings-and-misses), showing flashes of promise likely to earn him another shot at starting before the week is out.

Foushee has been introduced into the mix more gradually. He’s gotten just as many appearances, but they've been more abbreviated.

· Against Jacksonville last Friday, he went three up, three down in his first-ever inning of relief work.

· On Sunday's series finale with the Dolphins, Walsh brings in Foushee to turn around Jacksonville switch hitter Tony Bernazard after seeing Bernazard single from the right side off Matt Brunning an inning earlier. Bernazard hits into a fielder's choice, and Foushee, his job done, is lifted.

· Then, tonight, Foushee gets the ball with a man on second and one out in the sixth, and turns in a pretty solid performance. Take away two errors that weren't his fault but opened the floodgates for five unearned runs, and Foushee would have hurled 2.2 scoreless innings. As it is, his ERA still stands at 0.00 through his five innings this year.

What does all this mean? Nothing for sure, but in a crowded pen with plenty of righthanders who have yet to settle into a precise niche, Walsh seems to have certain plans in mind for his two young lefties. The hoped-for scenario may play out like this: Projected as a starter, Watson continues to get an open-ended audition to make the rotation, persisting as an option perhaps into the Ivy season as Walsh waits out his early control struggles. In the meantime, Walsh is fearless in inserting him in important relief situations, even to face righties and for extended stretches as merited. Foushee, for his part, gets a growing number of appearances, but on a situational basis. In time, he becomes a stabilizing influence in the go-to specialist role Walsh loves to reserve for a steady lefthander.

Tonight's Final: FAU 11, Harvard 1

Five costly errors and more strikeouts (10) than hits (8) spell defeat tonight.

Walsh goes to his bench ...

... as the game has slipped away. Harvard heads into the eighth trailing 11-1 with most of its starters pulled. The Owls got four unearned runs in the seventh when a Brendan Byrne throwing error extended the inning.

Harvard Trails FAU 6-1 in the 6th

Castellanos hasn't been hit outrageously hard--a two-run homer after a hit-batsman in the second was the biggest single blow--but he hasn't had an easy inning since the first. Three Harvard errors haven't helped. Castellanos does have six Ks to show for his five innings, another sign of the pure power we all know he has in deep supply. Sophomore catcher Matt Kramer, who is quietly doing a heck of a job at the bottom of that order, has belted a homer for Harvard's lone run.

Casting Call for Castellanos

After a string of pretty good relief appearances (5.1 IP, 2 ER, 4 H, 4 K in last three appearances), senior Javy Castellanos gets a second chance to make a first impression as a starter right now against Florida Atlantic.

Never one to recycle lineup cards, Walsh is trying a revamped top of the order tonight, with Morgan Brown at leadoff, Salsgiver second, and Vance third. This is Vance's fourth different home in the order, and Salsgiver's third. Hmmm. Also, senior Chris Mackey gets the nod in right after his solid hitting performance yesterday.

We'll provide an occasional update during tonight's game, as well as get some other, non-time-sensitive material up for your collective consideration. Go Crimson.

Live from Spring Break, it's the Lance & Vance Show

More great news from Florida on Monday, as Harvard pulled out an 11-9 win over Lynn University and persevered through a 6-6, 11-inning marathon tie with Barry: Harvard's bats are heating up, and none more than the ones belonging to sophomore Matt Vance and senior Lance Salsgiver. The pair--two of the Crimson's toolsy-est guys--had seven hits apiece in today's double-dip, combining for 10 runs and, my favorite stat of all, six steals.

Cliff Notes version of today's action, courtesy of the boxscores:

In Game One against Lynn, the Northeast's swiftest designated hitter legged out a two-run triple in the eighth innning to knot the game at 9-9 after Harvard had trailed, then raced home from third with the winning run on a suicide squeeze play. You read that right: a suicide squeeze play. Love that call. Given the situation, it shouldn't have come as a surprise to Lynn, but that just makes the execution of it by Morgan Brown all the more impressive. The squeeze, by the way, was the second of two occasions in this particular game that Brown bunted to advance Vance. Brown didn't have a hit in Game One, but he continues to do all the little things necessary to win. In fact, the whole team was executing today. The aggressiveness stands out just by reading the box score, as it seems Walsh had the green light on the whole game. Consider this: on the day, Harvard had 17 runs and just one homer, a solo shot at that. The power will come, no one is worried about that. That Harvard can score 16 runs--all but one earned--by means other than the homer is vintage Crimson baseball.

The one homer Harvard did hit? Belonged to what's-his-name, Salsgiver, who didn't do much else in Game One except come up a double short of the cycle. And welcome back, Chris Mackey, who matched Lance and Vance with three hits of his own against Lynn, to go along with three RBI. His RBI single in the ninth provided a valuable insurance run that gave a little extra cushion for sophomore Shawn Haviland, who was available today thanks to his abbreviated start Saturday and shut down Lynn over the final 3.1 innings to get the win.

In the second game, which was called after 11 innings, Salsgiver and Vance again provided instant offense. With Vance moved down to the two-hole in this game and Salsgiver working out of his customary third slot, the pair were hitting back-to-back and they went tit-for-tat with each other all game long, not just at the plate, but on the basepaths. Tell me this play-by-play from the seventh inning isn't a sight for sore eyes:

Harvard 7th - Mackey grounded out to 2b. Vance singled, bunt. Vance
stole second. Salsgiver singled to third base; Vance advanced to third. Bernat
to p for Davila. Salsgiver stole second; Vance stole home. Salsgiver stole
third.

That's four stolen bases in one inning, including a swipe of home, and one run scored without a ball leaving the frickin' infield. Mercy.

And oh yeah, Salsgiver came in to pitch an inning later with an inherited runner, yet escaped the inning, and then went on to pitch three more shutout innings before the game was called. Tell me again: how is this kid is still in school, and not among his dearly departed classmates who signed and left early? Hell if I know, but thank you, baseball gods. He may be the best prospect of them all when it's all said and done.

I could go on, but there's way too much to digest from today's two games, and we're going to save the rest of it for tomorrow. A final thought for tonight, though: there are so many possibilities with this lineup, especially the top two-thirds, it's sick. Up until now, the offense has been overlooked a bit because the pitching has been finding itself and Harvard has been playing behind in so many games. Not anymore. O'Donnell is going to be a fun place to watch baseball this spring.

Harvard leads Lynn, 6-3, in the 4th

Listen to the game live by clicking here and following the "LIVE AUDIO" link in the upper right corner. Do so at your own risk--I'm pretty sure NASA's Apollo-era lunar module was equipped to transmit better audio.

Thank You, Mr. Meehan

The pictures you've been seeing on the blog in recent days are courtesy of Mr. James Meehan, Taylor's dad. The elder Meehan snapped some pretty high-quality action shots during the season's first several games and was kind enough to share them with Marty last week. We greatly appreciate the contribution, which has certainly helped spruce up the content around here.

Seniority Rules.

Senior Matt Brunnig was back where he belonged Sunday: pitching on the weekend.

The 6'6 veteran (at right) went seven strong innings, making a compelling case to start one of next weekend's Ivy games, and fellow senior Josh Klimkiewicz jacked a clutch, three-run homer to lift Harvard to a 7-5 win over Jacksonville this afternoon.

Coming in on the heels of back-to-back blowouts that depleted Harvard's pitching corps, Brunnig came up big. He scattered eight hits (three were infield singles) and walked just one hitter to earn his first win of the year. After Harvard pieced together a four-run sixth to snap a 3-3 tie, Brunnig protected the lead for two more innings until giving way to the Hunch Bunch, as skipper Joe Walsh deployed a head-scratching hodge-podge of relievers to earn the game's final six outs. Steffan Wilson struggled in his curiously timed spring debut as a pitcher, but a 1-inning cameo by Friday's starter Adam Cole helped stopped the bleeding and Jason Brown recorded the final out to earn the save.

Today also offered a glimpse of the level of production Harvard's offense should be capable of this year. Harvard's scoring was confined to two innings, but those innings contained promising displays of patient hitting, moving along of runners, and raw power.



Trailing 2-0 in the fourth, Morgan Brown and Lance Salsgiver sprayed back-to-back singles to open the inning. Jacksonville then pitched carefully to Steffan Wilson, and Wilson didn't try to do too much, walking on four pitches. After Klimkiewicz also walked to collect one of his four RBIs on the day, Matt Vance--moved into the middle of the order after managing just three hits in his last 17 ABs in the leadoff spot--laced a two-run single to right-center.

In the seventh, Harvard broke the game open with four runs, first via some smallball. After sophomore catcher Matt Kramer reached on an infield single, Chris Mackey bunted pinch runner Max Warren over to second, Morgan Brown grounded out to the right side to move Warren to third, and Wilson scratched out another infield hit to give Harvard a 4-3 lead. Then up came Klimkiewicz, who clubbed a 3-2 pitch over the left field with two on and two outs. Pretty clutch job--the runs later proved critical as Harvard's bullpen only narrowly preserved the win.

Certainly a lot of positives to take away from today's game. The win should provide a big momentum boost going into a busy week of contests, which begins tomorrow with a day-night doubleheader. Another senior (and weekend candidate) Javy Castellanos is a strong possibility to pitch in one of tomorrow's games, coming off a strong 2.2-inning appearance yesterday. If he does go, and can match Brunnig's effectiveness, the Crimson's pitching situation may finally begin to come into focus.

Go Get 'Em, 7

It is indeed Brunnig on the hill. Also, Harvard's lineup moves Matt Vance down to the six hole, and tries out rookie Matt Rogers in the leadoff spot.

Here we go, boys.

On Deck: The Hippie in Game Three?

Save for Captain Morgan, really the only pitcher not to throw so far in Jacksonville has been senior Matt Brunnig, suggesting the shaggy-haired Floridian whom Sky Mann playfully calls the "hippie" may get the start in Sunday's series finale at 1 pm.

Let us know if you know otherwise, but assuming we're not misreading the situation and Brunnig does get the ball, this bodes as a potentially impactful appearance from Harvard's 6'6 question mark. It's no secret that skipper Joe Walsh is still auditioning pitchers for at least two of the coveted weekend starter roles, and with the Ivy League season less than a week away, now is really the time to make an impression.

Coming off a solid relief appearance last weekend against New York Tech, Brunnig seems positioned to earn the right to start against either Cornell or Princeton next weekend if he turns in an impressive outing tomorrow.

Since his rookie year, Brunnig has been hyped as a special talent, with all-Ivy potential. With Cole and Haviland struggling this weekend and only certain elements of the bullpen inspiring confidence so far, Brunnig could emerge as a difference-maker this season. More than a few times in the recent past, we've seen a Harvard pitcher go from unknown quantity to go-to guy in his senior season. Also working in Brunnig's favor is the fact that he has traditionally been one of the team's more reliable strike-throwers--so far this year, he's got just one walk in over five innings of work.

Long story short, he is definitely capable of replicating--or even surpassing--his rookie year success in 2006. We're rooting for him.

Control Problems Doom Harvard Again

Sophomore starter Shawn Haviland fell behind in too many counts and Harvard fell behind quickly on the scoreboard en route to a 16-4 loss in Jacksonville this afternoon.

Haviland (seen above) struggled every bit as much as rookie Adam Cole did Friday, and exited the game just as promptly. Back-to-back walks to start the game led to three first-inning runs. The second inning didn't go much better; after a single, walk and another single, Haviland was pulled for Jason Brown.

Despite trailing 5-0 after two innings, Harvard manufactured three runs in the next two frames. Lance Salsgiver provided a two-run double and Chris Mackey singled home another run to close the gap to 5-3. Also of note: Steffan Wilson (3-for-4, with three doubles, yesterday) apparently made enough of an impression on Jacksonville that he was intentionally walked with two outs in the third inning. It worked; Josh Klimkiewicz flied out to right to end the inning, stranding two.

This was a close game until the seventh, when things slipped away, again on account of control issues. Reliever Brad Unger faced six hitters and walked four of them. Five runs were eventually charged to him, spoiling what had been a 2.2-inning hitless relief stint by Javy Castellanos, as Walsh's trial-and-error approach with his pitching staff continued to produce mixed results.

Harvard looks to salvage one game in this three-game set tomorrow at 1 pm. The game can be monitored live by clicking here.

Walsh Reprises 'Captain Hook' Role at JAX

For the second time in as many days, Harvard's starter has failed to pitch into the third inning. Today, sophomore Shawn Haviland gets an early hook, lasting exactly 1.1 innings, as another lopsided loss looms in Jacksonville. Control issues continue to hurt Harvard's cause.

You can follow the game, in progress, via Jacksonville University's GameTracker. More later.

Friday Night Blights

In what is hopefully just a hiccup and not a setback for the rotation, freshman starter Adam Cole (pictured at left) was less than his usual self Friday, getting a quick hook after just 1.1 innings, as Harvard fell to Jacksonville University, 14-3, in the Crimson's spring break opener.

Jacksonville came as good as advertised. Validating Jason Brown's complimentary assessment in yesterday's Crimson, the Dolphins pounded out 14 hits and led 10-0 after just three innings. Harvard was never in this one, though Steffan Wilson snapped out of a 3-for-17 funk, slugging three doubles and knocking in two of Harvard's three runs. The other positive sign for the good guys: though the game was out of hand early, four relievers combined to give up just one earned run in the bullpen's final six innings of work.

As for Cole, he was wild from the outset, walking the first hitter of the game and three of the ten batters he faced in all. He escaped the first inning with just one run allowed, but a solo homer to start the second signalled more trouble. By the time Cole surrendered a one-run, one out double to the fourth batter of that inning, Walsh decided he had seen enough, pulling him for lefthander Mike Dukovich, who struggled mightly before being lifted for Taylor Meehan.

The burning question of this game: Was Cole bothered by something health-wise? Or was Walsh, seeing that Cole just didn't have it on this particular day, saving him for another start during this compact spring break stretch? Probably (hopefully) the latter. We'll know soon enough--if healthy, Cole could take another turn as soon as Monday, when Harvard plays a doubleheader.

The three-game series with Jacksonville continues through tomorrow.

Hit the Road

10 days, 12 games. Jacksonville (3), Lynn, Barry, Florida Atlantic, FIU, St. Thomas, and then the first Ivy games (doubleheaders at Princeton and defending Gehrig Division champion Cornell) on April 1-2. One can only hope that by that time, they'll have a rotation set. The Crimson's Jonathan Lehman quotes Morgan Brown as saying that Matt Brunnig will get a start this week, along with Brad Unger, who pitched very well against NY Tech.

One can only hope that a Brunnig or a Castellanos really establishes himself here. (One can also idly wonder "what if"--like, "What if Frank Herrmann were still around to start the seven-inning game in New Jersey?"--but I say that now only because my gut tells me that's the last time this what if will come up this season).

Spring Break Road Trip

Official preview here, including links to live scoring for the upcoming games.

Fellow Submarines

Interesting (and interestingly timed and titled) piece on Jason Brown, Mike Myers and the art of the submarine delivery.

Meanwhile, the Red Sox were at home for October’s American League Division Series with Chicago. On their roster was a 36-year old veteran pitcher named Mike Myers who, like Brown, threw from the rare “submarine” arm slot.

Unbeknownst to Brown, Myers kept in contact with Walsh, a former Cape League coach.

“I got a phone call that Mike Myers wanted to use [O’Donnell Field],” Walsh says. “He was going to work out a guy in the minors...who was dropping down.”

Brown was on his way to class in the afternoon when he received a call on his cell phone. It was Walsh.

“Hey, Mike’s going to be down here this afternoon at 1:00,” the coach said. “Would you want to go down and get a chance to work with him?”

Says Brown, “I immediately left class and went straight down.”

Brown worked with Myers for more than half an hour, correcting subtle kinks in his delivery.

For one, Walsh says, Myers instructed Brown to dip down as he attacked the plate rather than before, as he had previously done. Myers also helped him with his arm angle and demonstrated an improved sidearmer grip.

“He was a really nice guy, really patient,” Brown says. “Because nothing came to me quick when I was working with him...He was willing to just work with me. He didn’t count it as, like, a hassle or like I was bugging him or anything.”

All of a sudden, Brown was throwing darts. His pitch movement had increased. His slider broke harder. His control had improved.

“This fall,” Walsh says, “he’s throwing 83, nobody can touch him. Nobody. I can’t wait to wheel him out. His ball is just tch tch tch tch. When we have indoor workouts, if Jason’s throwing in the cage and somebody’s throwing 90 in the other cage, [the batters] all jump in the 90 cage. He’s making guys look silly.”

Also, Frank Herrmann contributes Part III of his spring training diary, which has been a delight. (Part II was here.)

Solid contribution out of the bullpen? Check.

First victory of the season? Check.

Harvard's surprise super sub, senior RHP/LHP/PH Matt Brunnig, hurled four perfect innings of relief Sunday, preserving Harvard's first win of the year, 3-2, over New York Tech.

Starter (and emerging weekend option?) Brad Unger went the first five innings, allowing just three hits (all singles), to earn the win. He did allow five walks, which along with a couple untimely passed balls, paved the way for two unearned runs for NYTech.

Taylor Meehan had the at-bat of the game, ripping a two-run double in the fourth that put Harvard ahead to stay. Andrew Casey, Tom Stack-Babich and Matt Vance each had two base knocks, pacing a 10-hit attack for Harvard.

Back to Brunnig: 12 up, 12 down to earn his fifth career save. His ERA is still hovering at 9.00--this, thanks to a dubious relief inning in Harvard's 17-6 dismantling at Florida, where he had five earned runs charged to him after retiring the first two batters of said inning--and the jury has remained out on Brunnig for three-plus years. Still, today's outing--along with the random pinch-hitting success of late (he had his first career RBI yesterday)--is enough to stir an optimist to wonder if this isn't the year Brunnig might finally put it together. Here's hoping.

Still looking for the win column

Crimson dropped both today. 9-6 in the first game (Haviland 2 1/3, 7h, 6r, 4er, 2bb, 2k), 3-2 in the second (Cole 6 2/3, 6h, 2er, 4k). Interestingly, Javy Castellanos pitched in both games in relief. That would suggest that someone else is going tomorrow. Ryan Watson, perhaps?

Tom Stack-Babich collected his first four collegiate hits in the two games.

JV baseball guy makes good

A bit of self-indulgence for the writer types among us: Congrats to Jon Paul Morosi '04, former Crimson sportswriter, who was recently named a baseball beat guy at the Detroit Free Press, where he'll get the chance to cover his hometown team, the Tigers. Jon mostly wrote hockey during his stint with the Crimson, but he played plenty of baseball for Harvard's JV squad, and appreciated the Harvard baseball program as much as anyone.

For those of us who paid attention to these things, Jon followed in the tradition of one Daniel G. Habib, Sports Illustrated's baseball insider and all-around legend, as someone who understood not just the sport, but also the craft, better than almost anyone. A good example of Jon's talent can be found here. If we're lucky, maybe Jon will be able to pitch in with an occasional contribution here at SoBB. Props to Marty for finding out about this.

Again: congrats, Jon.

Media Roundup

The Crimson talks about throwing strikes. Rob Wheeler gets some mention in this article about ROTC. Harvard plays New York Tech in its first cold outdoor games this weekend. Cole and Haviland (who won his first ever decision there last year) will pitch on Saturday. Javy Castellanos will start Sunday's game.

Mann alive

A hearty welcome to new SoBB contributor and Crimson catching legend Schuyler Mann.

Opening weekend losses, a Crimson tradition

With this my 5th year of emotional investment in Harvard Baseball, I can tell you that the beginning to this season is no different than any of the past four. In one respect, this is of course bad because the Crimson was handed 3 lopsided losses – not the most proud of traditions to establish. On the other hand, two of the last four Crimson squads went on to win the Ivy League with similar beginnings when pitted against ranked southern schools (i.e. Rice, Louisiana-Lafayette, Texas Tech).

That said, this year’s edition has nothing to worry about. After four years of being on the receiving end of a few blowout defeats, one learns how to recognize the positives regardless of score. So here’s my take on why dem good ol’ boys should keep their heads up, and also where they’ll need to improve to keep the Ivy Title at O’Donnell.

Swingin’ the shillaly:
The biggest challenge the Harvard team faces every season is adjusting to “real” baseball after being cooped up inside basketball and tennis courts through the Boston winter. This year’s edition came out swinging, as always. With 26 hits over their first 3 games against nationally ranked pitching, the Crimson will not have to worry about offensive output as they have not over the past few seasons. Klem, Steffan, and Lance will all have great years at the plate and it sounds like some newcomers will have impact years as well. Captain Mo will have a good solid year all-around, having already contributed a long ball to his versatile offerings.

The guys will have to concentrate on walking more, and striking out less, something I always sucked at, but hey it’s gotta be done. This will give Walsh more chances to run, run, run.

Pitching Whoa’s!
24 BB's, 7 HBP’s, and 6 WP’s. That’s a lot of poorly aimed pitches for three games. A tremendous amount really. There’s clearly a lot of rust on the rubber, and the pitching staff will have to turn it around pretty quickly to give the team a shot at winning. There’s just so much talent in the Crimson arms though. As a catcher, I know it. There is absolutely no reason that Bruton, Castellanos, that hippie Brunnig, and Haviland shouldn’t have great years. All of them need constant reminders that there is a defense working hard out there for them. Bruton will need movement on his fastball and be able to throw his sharp slider and yakker for strikes. Javy C just needs to concentrate on filling the zone with his hard fastball. No need to get pretty out there. Haviland will find his rhythm with time. And Brunnig, with the best tools of them all, just needs to breathe out of his eyelids, stay loose, and let it fly.

The bullpen will be led by Jason Brown. He needs to set the tone for other relievers like Duke and Taylor Meehan. The objective for them is to challenge hitters with a mix of pitches. Keep them off balance and swinging. All three have plenty of good pitches to work with, if only they throw strikes.

Harvard’s catchers will have to work to get the most out of this pitching staff. Big Casey is a hell of a catcher and strong-willed. He knows how to keep those idiot pitchers in line.

Equal Opportunity Line-ups:
Walsh has never had any qualms about getting freshman into the line-up to “see what they can do.” Though I know little about this freshman class, I do see that many of them are getting playing time and making the most of it. Cole was outstanding in his debut and this Rodgers character delivered a big hit. Strong contributions from a freshman class are important to the success of the team. It drives the older guys to work harder to keep their spots, and it gives the young guys a chance at game experience in their first year. If you look at the past couple of years, guys like Haviland, Wilson, Farkes, and Klem all made huge impacts in their first go-around. This year should be no different as the young bucks seem to be earning respect from Walsh already.

(And I say this lovingly…) Walsh’s Wild Hair:
The craziest decision that Walsh made in the opening weekend, the one that has left me scratching my head a few thousand miles away, was putting Brunnig in to pinch hit. Then again, it worked. Unless there was a typo in the media, Brunnig got and AB and a hit. I remember Brunnig always telling me and the other hitters how easy our job was (to our chagrin) but I guess he proved himself right. Still, I think he should get his goofy ass back on that mound and throw heat.

Gainesville Sweep

17-6, Florida. Salsgiver bats .500 for the series. Justin Roth, Matt Rogers get first career hits. Morgan Brown proves the most effective bullpen option of the weekend (2 1/3 hitless, scoreless innings with the game out of reach).

The At-the-Game Report: Game Two

More from our eyes in Gainesville... LAS wrote this up AND took pictures for us... SoBB is grateful... and amused that she figured into the answer to between-innings Florida-Harvard trivia question...



"Haviland looked pretty good early -- a few too many balls, but good -- but this time of year all the guys don't have much stamina on the mound yet, and it showed as the game went on. His curve ball -- which looked sharp early -- started not to fall in, and Walsh had to pull him. Then the bull pen had some of the same difficulties as yesterday, though there were definitely fewer walks."

"The biggest difference between Florida and Harvard right now (when Florida's not really hitting and missing LaPorta) is the bullpen. The Augenstein was lights out again (with the exception of his last frame), and then the Gators brought in O'Day (a submariner, who is their closer), and he was very good after giving up a hit to open the inning. Lack of bullpen depth is clearly an issue for the Crimson in games like this. Ryan Watson battled hard in his debut -- I don't think he allowed an earned run -- but he walked too many guys. With a team in an offensive slump like Florida, you need strike throwers, and no one coming out of the pen the past two days seemed to come in and put the ball over the plate early and often. It's early in the season and this is the kind of thing that can be remedied. It will also get less important as you reach Ivies -- where starters go longer, and 1/2 the games are only seven innings -- but it will probably be an issue tomorrow. Let's hope Javi can eat up some innings, and someone can get the ball to Wilson with a Harvard lead (unless, of course, Chas is pitching)."

"Aside from that, let's see. Lance had a pretty good day, getting clean hits off of both Florida pitchers, and showing off his arm on a throw from the far right field corner that hit third base on what I think was one bounce. The infield play got a little sloppy near the end of the game, but overall the defense and situational baseball has been pretty darn good for this time of the season."

Florida 10, Harvard 2

Matt Brunnig singles, scores from first on a Vance double, plays right field.

More later.

Game One Observations

Former Crimson beat writer and utterly disinterested observer Lande submits the following notes from her seat in Gainesville:

Cole: "Adam Cole was great. He pretty clearly tired in the sixth(?), but before that he was really in control the whole game. The Florida lineup has been in a serious -- and for me, somewhat disturbing slump -- and when Cole was out there, it didn't look like there was any way the team was coming out of it. He mixed up his pitches and located well, got a lot of ground balls, it was a nice job by a kid making his first collegiate start."

Morgan Brown: "Morgan Brown looked great. Between his home run (which was a shot to left center), a pretty little bunt single, and an impressive day at short (highlighted by a diving stab of a line drive with a man on third), he looked as good as anyone on the field for either team. Ball got him swinging on what looked like a pretty breaking pitch, but overall, I was really impressed with Morgan, as I usually am."

And the obvious: "After Cole came out, things got ugly pretty quickly, just because the other guys we brought in (up until Meehan), really struggled to throw strikes. It was a little painful at times, especially with the whole Florida crowd chanting at them (the crowd inexplicably calls every pitcher 'Earl', and just rips on them the whole time...)."

More notes: Cole had his control problems, throwing only 37 of his 77 pitches for strikes. That he only allowed 2 hits in 5+ anyway is even more of a testament to his poise on the mound yesterday.

Morgan Brown had one home run all of last season.

The Gators had only given up five homers all season (17 games, 150 innings) before last night's two.

Game Two at 2pm. Live audio here. If last night was any indication, this team can be beaten if you can get 7 quality innings out of Haviland and turn it over to Salsgiver-Wilson. Tomorrow's Game Three has been moved up to noon to accommodate Harvard's travel schedule; no inning will start after 3.

Florida 12, Harvard 6

...despite a strong outing from Adam Cole. More tomorrow.

Opening Day!

Freshman Adam Cole will indeed start tonight's game (6:30) at No. 13 Florida. Talk about a baptism by fire... or maybe not since the Gators really haven't been hitting lately. Forecast for tonight: Mostly cloudy, lows around 60, highs around 90-91 on the gun if the advance press is any indication. Could be interesting. Shawn Haviland will start game two tomorrow at 2pm against Brian Augenstein (4-0, 1.15 ERA) in a battle of aces. Javy Castellanos starts the third game. I'd gotten some reports that his velocity was down this spring, maybe that's not the case.

Live audio here! (WRUF)

Or, tune in to Live Stats linked off Harvard's site here ("Gametracker")

The Crimson reports in its game preview that Matt Vance is DHing due to shoulder problems. This moves Tom Stack-Babich to the outfield.

Here is the Florida Preview.

Herrmann's Head

Good day for the Crimson. On the same day its baseball preview comes out, they debut one of the more intriguing features in a long while, Frank Herrmann's diary of Indians camp.

Ask And You Shall Receive...

Some days after the Sons of Bart Brush Preview Spectacular, the Crimson has put its own baseball preview online. Very good stuff here, as usual. Some highlights:



* Morgan Brown is bouncing back from a horrifying summer ball accident, one that recalls an even worse event in recent Harvard baseball history.

* Walsh pretty much sums up the rotation:

Coach Joe Walsh traces a big question mark in the air with his forefinger.
He then pauses, before repeating the exercise and drawing an invisible exclamation point.
“You could throw either one of those on there,” he says.

A lot of other fun tidbits in here as well.

* Matt Vance, lone bright light from last year's NCAAs, wants to bat leadoff. You may recall that Vance had a coming out party this first March weekend last year, and must've had an OBP around .600. Let's see who they bat leadoff: Vance, Salsgiver, maybe this kid Rogers whose speed Walsh loves so much.

* Lance Salsgiver gets remarkably candid about his Harvard career and his expectations: "My college seasons here at Harvard, to be honest, have been pretty mediocre in terms of what I wanted to accomplish... For some reason, I haven’t been able to put together a good season. Every year, it seems as if there’s a slump or two hitting-wise, and the season’s so short that one bad day starts to snowball."

* An ode to the two-sport athlete, an endangered species generally, but less so at O'Donnell.

Read them all and enjoy.

GoCrimson.com posts its season preview

Here. Pretty standard stuff. Everyone's awesome on paper. Typical downplaying of the freshmen (the odds of Adam Cole starting Game One against Florida are actually quite high).

Hopefully, we'll have some additional Crimson coverage this week. We're working on another multimedia feature idea, as well as the usual stuff we do, so stay tuned.

Sons of Bart Brush Preview Spectacular

SoBB recently notched its 10,000th hit. (It's true! Check the counter!) After realizing that Brian, Faiz and I really could've accounted for but so many of these, I'm pretty floored by this fact. Thanks to everyone for stopping by and spreading the word about the site. Most importantly, continued thanks to the Harvard baseball team for fighting the good fight and making my time here a lot more enjoyable.

In order to properly commemorate SoBB 10K, celebrate the one-year anniversary of the site and get ready for an exciting new season of Harvard baseball, we've done something a little different. Hit the comment button and let us know how the preview below works on your machine. This is new technology to us, and the feedback is very useful.

With that, we unleash Coach Walsh upon an unsuspecting world:

Levelling the playing field a bit?

As many of you know, Harvard baseball tends to get off to a late start compared to the rest of the country. There are some obvious reasons.


A reliable informant points us to this news of a change in the NCAA baseball start date effective in 2008. We're talking late February from then on, with the 2008 start date set at February 22. (Florida, this year's first Harvard opponent, has been playing games since February 10; Harvard plays its first games this year the weekend of March 12).

One of many gaps between Harvard and the cream of the college baseball crop, true, but something that could ultimately make a difference given how vast an advantage playing a full additional month would seem to be.

In other news, Shawn Haviland has been named to the Northeast Baseball Review Preseason All-Northeast Corridor Second Team . Paul Christian (Brown) is listed on the first team.

Captain Morgan, True Scholar-Athlete

Congratulations to shortstop and captain Morgan Brown, recipient of a Rockefeller Fellowship to do research in India after graduation. Morgan was one of eight student recipients at Harvard College.

Official spring practices start...

According to The Crimson. With national title contender Florida (the 2005 runner-up) first up on the schedule, it seems sophomore Matt Vance has wasted no time in providing the Gators with bulletin board material:

“That should be interesting,” Harvard sophomore Matt Vance said. “We’re hoping to take one if not two.”

And later...

“We’re all pretty confident,” Vance said. “We plan on [Florida] maybe not coming out as hard as they can.”

Uh-huh.

Meanwhile, Alex McPhillips also reports that the team's traditional practice facility in Palmer-Dixon is being re-floored, leaving the team to practice in other venues like past favorite Lavietes Pavilion. The article also mentions the arrival of Todd Carroll ("Tom" in the article) in addition to Tom LoRicco. Carroll will serve as a volunteer assistant coach and bullpen catcher. We're guessing he's the same Todd Carroll who has recently served as an assistant coach at UMass and Salem Community College. Here is Todd's Salem bio:

Coach Carroll enters second year as assistant for the SCC baseball team. During the summer months, he helps coach the Mill City All-Americans of the New England Collegiate Baseball League. Coach Carroll’s experiences as a player at the JUCO and four-year level brings added knowledge to the SCC staff.

Coach Carroll’s foremost responsibilities are working with the pitchers and catchers. Coach Carroll did a wonderful job last season with the pitchers and catchers, with the pitching staff having a team ERA of 3.50 and the catchers throwing out an outstanding 60% of base runners. He also oversees the pitchers’ conditioning and weightlifting programs.

Coach Carroll is a native of Burlington, Massachusetts. He credits Jim Curtin, Dave Bettencourt, Mark Bettencourt, and Bobby Powers as his coaching mentors. Carroll currently resides in Pennsville.

Seems to pretty much fit the mold of a Walsh guy.