The Harvard baseball team's explosive ways came to a grinding temporary halt yesterday, as the Columbia Lions combined timely hitting and defense with excellent pitching to edge the Crimson 3-1 at Soldiers Field.
Harvard drew first blood and looked well on its way to its thirteenth straight triumph in the second inning when Charlie Santos-Buch led off with a bunt attempt that Columbia third baseman Ed Backus muffed. Santos-Buch moved to third when Tommy Joyce's grounder found its way between Bart Purcell's legs, and then loped home on Rich Trembowicz's single to left to give the Crimson a 1-0 lead.
Mechanical Man
But that's where it all ended for Harvard, folks. Columbia pitcher Rolando Acosta proceeded to set down the next fifteen Crimson batters in order on his way to a four-hit, six-strikeout performance.
Acosta, an all-Eastern League selection a year ago, gave up three of his four hits in the first two innings before baffling the Harvard batters for the next seven frames. Burke St. John provided the only safety during that time, stoking a long single to left in the seventh.
Meanwhile, the Lions were giving Acosta the runs he needed. Harvard's 1-0 margin was short-lived, as Columbia right fielder Mike Brown drilled Harvard starter Ron Stewart for a single up the middle in the top of the third. Stewart walked the next batter to put men on first and second.
Then while Stewart was in the process of fanning big first baseman Rob Murphy for out number two, Columbia executed a perfect double steal to put runners on second and third. Center fielder Mike Wilhite's clothesline single to left then scored both runners to put the Lions on top to stay.
Stewart retired the next 11 Columbia batters without a hit, getting out of a key jam in the seventh when Columbia had men on second and third with two outs. But the Lions got their insurance run in the top half of the eight, courtesy of a long home run to left field by Backus.
Stewart made his high fastball look a little too good and Backus took him deep for the only extra-base hit of the day. "Ron made two bad pitches all day and that was one of them" Coach Loyal Park said after the game. Park said the other bad pitch had led to Wilhite's two-run single in the third.
Nevertheless, Stewart's performance yesterday rivalled his other superlative outing this season. The freshman righthander registered eight strikeouts and yielded only six hits while walking three in his nine-inning stint. His record is now 4-1.
The loss, Harvard's first of the season, failed to dampen Park's enthusiasm for his team. He gave yesterday's contest a kind of Tom Lasorda post script, noting that "it was a great ballgame to watch and we were beaten by a real strong pitcher. We'll be ready romorrow, though."
Harvard battles Penn today in a doubleheader at Soldiers Filed. Penn has a 4-4-1 record in the Eastern League (Columbia leads the league with a 9-1 state) and Park will moyt likely pit Larry Brown and lefty Paul McOsker in the twinbill against the Quakers.
Park sees every Eastern League contest as important now, because "it's the same thing as the hockey setup. You go into the regional playoffs on the basis of percentage only, not according to who you beat during the season. We've got to win as many as we can," he said.
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