BOSTON--Fenway Park has not been a friendly place this year. Not only are the Red Sox flaunting one of the most dismal records since a 3-12 start in 1932, but yesterday the losing demons even possessed the Harvard men's baseball team (11-10 overall, 5-3 Ivy).
In a painful nine inning stint, the Crimson fell hard to the University of Massachusetts (19-9, 7-5 Atlantic 10) 13-2 in the annual Beanpot Tournament.
Things had appeared under control for awhile, but as each inning passed, the Harvard deficit seemed to just grow and grow.
Then in the fifth inning, in an offensive fury, the Minutemen expanded its lead and solidified its place in the Beanpot final game next Tuesday afternoon against the Terriers of Northeastern.
UMass sophomore slugger Muchie Dagliere (.404) started the attack with a thrashing double followed by a single to left by first baseman Justin Kelly.
That left two men on base for Nate Murphy. Mimicking Jose Canseco, Murphy belted a 400 foot shot clear over the right field wall, driving in three runs and giving UMass a commanding 8-0 lead.
The seventh inning was just as painful for the Crimson.
In the beginning, it appeared that Harvard was actually making a bit of a run at the Minutemen.
Harvard senior captain Marc Levy started the fifth inning by taking a pitch on his back.
With a runner on first and no outs, Harvard then managed to piece together a single by freshman Peter Woodfork and a walk to senior Scott Parrot.
In unglamorous fashion, the Crimson finally broke into the runs column off a walk in four pitches to freshman Hal Carey driving Levy home and bringing the score to 10-1.
However, UMass had its say in the bottom of the fifth. Two singles and a walk loaded the bases once again.
This time there was no long blast over the fence, but shortstop David Giglio did rip a single into left field to drive home the 11th UMass run.
A sacrifice fly to center field by the first baseman Ryan Hodgson only added insult to injury and made the lone Harvard run in the upper half of the inning seem minuscule.
"The thing about UMass is that they come right at you," Woodfork said. "They definitely deserve to be ranked where they are in New England."
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