Baby, I'm a Star
It was the epoch of novelty, as several Harvard newcomers distinguished themselves.
Currently, the Crimson's leading hitter is rookie outfielder Scott Carmack, who can thank the broken foot of Ivy Player of the Year Brian Ralph for much of his increased playing time. Carmack hit .471 in 17 at-bats over the break.
Sophomore Jason Larocque--who went to the plate just 12 times last season--may have taken a step towards trying to fill the large shoes of Peter Albers '97 at first base. Larocque hit .348 and drove in eight runs over 11 games. The highlight for the Methuen, Mass. native was a 4-for-5 effort against Upper Iowa in which he blasted a two-run home run and drove in five of Harvard's 16 runs.
On the mound, freshman John Birtwell pitched 13.0 scoreless innings and won two games. In his lone start, against Kent State, Birtwell allowed six hits in seven innings and fanned six.
Sophomore Rich Linden-Harvard's starting quarterback in the fall--showed he could hurl gems off the gridiron as well. Linden posted a 1.93 ERA over three games, allowing three hits and two runs in six innings in his one start.
It was also the season of veterans, especially in the batters box. In the March 26 win over Oakland, Mich., senior left fielder Aaron Kessler's six hits (in six at-bats) represented the most by a Harvard player since Eddie Mays logged the same number in 1932.
Juniors Woodfork, Hal Carey and Andrew Huling all shined at the plate, and third baseman Woodfork made several spectacular plays at the hot corner.
For the most part, Harvard did what was expected. If, however, the Crimson is to one-up its history-making performance of a year ago, when the team won 34 games and knocked off two nationally-ranked opponents in Miami and UCLA, what is expected may not be good enough.
Then again, last season's team was only 5-6 after its spring break trip.
For now the Crimson can embark upon its Ivy schedule backed by the experience of 13 games, most of which were against quality opponents.
"[The Miami series] showed us how far we need to come," Woodfork said. "We need to put the ball in play more and we definitely need to play better team defense. This weekend [against Princeton and Cornell] is going to tell us a lot."
In this, its spring of hope, Harvard has everything before it. It need only take the field. OVER THE BREAK
Baseball results 3/19-3/29.
Date Opponent Pitcher of Record 3/19 Marist, W 9-4 Birtwell (W 1-0) 3/20 Okla. St., L 6-8 Franey (L 0-1) 3/21 Dayton, L 5-10 Lennon (L 0-1) 3/21 NY Tech., W 10-4 Wells (W 1-0) 3/22 Vermont, L 5-7 McKay (L 0-1) 3/23 N-Eastern, W 9-8 Madden (W 1-0) 3/24 Drexel, W 11-3 Vail (W 1-0) 3/25 Kent St., W 9-0 Birtwell (W 2-0) 3/26 Upper la., W 16-13 Wells (W 2-0) 3/26 Oakl. (Ml), W 17-9 Linden (W 1-0) 3/27 Miami, L 0-7 Duffell (L 0-1) 3/28 Miami, L 0-13 Kalvas (L 0-1) 3/29 Miami, L 2-9 Jamieson (L 0-1)