It's on the road to Regionals once again for the Harvard baseball team.

The Crimson swept a play-in series with Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference champion LeMoyne on Friday at O'Donnell field to advance to the NCAA Regional Tournament for the second consecutive season. LEMOYNE  6 HARVARD  7 HARVARD  5 LEMOYNE  3

Behind timely hitting and solid pitching, the Crimson (34-10) used a complete team effort to defeat the pesky Dolphins (26-15) by the scores 7-6 and 15-0 record at home for Harvard.

"You're only as strong as your one-through-nine," captain David Forst said. "Every guy needs to come to play everyday. And if we are going to play as a team, it's going to be a different guy stepping up everyday."

Stepping up for Harvard on this day was sophomore first baseman Erik Binkowski, the number nine hitter. His two-run single in the fourth inning of the first game gave the Crimson the lead, and his two-run home run in the second game tied the ballgame at two, as he led the way for Harvard.

"It was tough out there, and [Binkowski] got us going there with a big drive," coach Joe Walsh said. "It's great getting that out of your nine-hole hitter."

Seniors Brian Ralph and Forst also had strong games on Friday for Harvard. Ralph finished the afternoon with his team-leading ninth home run, a triple and three RBI.

Forst, meanwhile, continued his sensational season, hitting a home run and two doubles on 4-of-7 hitting, as the Crimson captain improved his team-leading batting average to .409.

Freshman pitcher John Birtwell (4-0) also impressed with a strong performance in game two of the twin-bill as he picked up the win. Sophomore hurler Mike Madden (3-1) earned the victory in the first game of the afternoon.

Harvard 7, LeMoyne 6

In the series opener against LeMoyne the Crimson sent its number-one starter, junior Andrew Duffell (3-2, 2.82 ERA), to the mound against Dolphins star Scott Cassidy (7-5, 3.06 ERA), in a match-up that had all the looks of a great pitching duel.

That pitching duel, however, never materialized, as both hurlers had some trouble.

Cassidy--who is rumored to be heading out toToronto for a workout with the Blue Jays--wasuncharacteristically wild. He had walked only 11batters in 75 innings on the season, but on Fridayhe gave up four to the Crimson. The hard throwingrighthander did, however, strike out nine Harvardhitters in seven and one-third innings, giving him83 on the year.

"That kid on the bump for them today is legit,"Walsh said. "He's big-time, no doubt about it."

Ralph started the scoring in the bottom of thethird inning, as he tripled to rightfield, scoringsenior leftfielder Aaron Kessler. Kessler hadreached on Cassidy's third walk of the afternoon,and Ralph's drive gave the Crimson a 1-0 lead.

Duffell, in his first action since injuring hiselbow against Dartmouth two weeks ago, started thegame strong, retiring the first nine batters thathe faced. The righthander, however suffered atwo-out rally in the fourth.

After walking the lead-off batter and allowinga single to the second, Duffell retired the nexttwo hitters, and it looked as if he would get outof the inning unscathed. Two consecutive singles,however, gave the Dolphins a 2-1 lead, promptingWalsh to bring in long relief specialist sophomoreDerek Lennon, who got Harvard out of the jam.