The Harvard baseball team faces its toughest challenge yet this season with doubleheaders this weekend versus Columbia and Penn.

With a record of 3-1 (9-7 overall), Harvard sits atop the Ivy League with Penn (6-2, 14-10). Penn, a perennial powerhouse in baseball, is the defending Ivy champ. The Quakers are the team to beat this spring, but Harvard is poised and ready.

"You get up a little extra when you play [Penn]," captain Marc Levy said.

Despite its record (3-5, 9-18), Columbia is also no Little League team. It has won two straight at Yale and is tied for second place in the league with Brown.

"They haven't let up that many runs, and they have good pitching," Levy said.

Penn swept a four game series with Columbia earlier this season. However, all the games were close; the last two decided by one run each. So while their records portray Penn as a juggernaut and Columbia as a pushover, neither team should be underestimated.

"[This weekend] is a way to gauge our performance for the season," Levy said.

To make it through this weekend however, the Crimson will have to play solid baseball. As always, good pitching, baserunning and defense will be the keys to success.

In these doubleheaders, each game is only seven innings, as opposed to the usual nine. The shorter format makes for quicker games that require more aggressiveness.

The usual strategy of playing for big innings early in the game and working for one or two runs in the later innings has to be altered. Teams start sacrificing, bunting and stealing bases earlier in an effort to create a run.

These strategies will be especially important against the formidable opposition of Columbia and Penn. Each team will be looking for that slight edge in the closing innings.

"A one run lead after four innings is huge in these games." Levy said.

As the Crimson players oil their gloves and lace their spikes for these games, they'll have to remember to treat these games with the importance they deserve.

And to avoid bunting with two