Already dealt a fatal blow by Title IX, Providence fell victim to the revitalized bats of the Harvard baseball team yesterday. PROVIDENCE  6 HARVARD  13

Never one to shy away from kicking a team when it's down, Harvard (14-12, 6-2 Ivy) scored 11 runs in the second and third innings to defrock the Friars, 13-6, yesterday afternoon at O'Donnell Field. Freshman shortstop Mark Mager hit his first collegiate homer, a two-run clout in the third, and junior Jeff Bridich and freshman Josh San Salvador added three hits apiece as the Crimson broke out of a mild offensive slump.

"We haven't hit the ball all season the way we did today," said Harvard Coach Joe Walsh. "One through nine seemed to go up to the plate and go after it a little bit. It was huge to have a big inning like we did today that wasn't caused by bases-on-balls and errors, but hitting."

Providence will eliminate its baseball program after this season in order to comply with NCAA gender-equity requirements, and the Friars (31-11, 7-6 Big East) have been cleaning house on their farewell tour. The top-ranked team in New England, Providence assembled a 15-game winning streak earlier this season behind an offense that scores 10 runs per game and a serviceable pitching staff.

But Harvard starter Mike Giampaolo kept the Friars at bay early. The junior placekicker yielded just two runs on six hits through five innings before giving way to the bullpen during a four-run sixth.

By then the Crimson already had a five-run cushion, and relievers Donny Jamieson and Ben Crockett slammed the door with three-and-one-third shutout innings.

"When we got the lead for Mike [Giampaolo], that was huge," Walsh said. "It helped me stick with him a little longer, and I knew that our bullpen had three or four guys out there who would be tough for them."

The day's action began in earnest in the second. What looked like a long day at the start of the stanza had the sweet scent of a pleasant surprise by the end.

After Providence sophomore Mike Scott led off the second inning with a single to left, senior Angelo Ciminiello cleared the bases with a massive home run well over the pines in left.

As the bottom of the inning began with Harvard down 2-0, Walsh anxiously paced the lip of his dugout, loudly urging his hitters to try to chase Providence's southpaw starter Ryan Lewis. It worked.

The Crimson put four runs on the board in the second, all on hard-hit balls. After senior catcher Jason Keck reached on an error, Bridich brought him home with a screaming double into the left-centerfield gap.

San Salvador followed with a single, and senior Andrew Huling knotted the game on a fielder's choice grounder to third.

With Lewis already seemingly shaken, sophomore Scott Carmack and junior Eric Binkowski did the eight and nine spots in the order proud, tacking on a pair of RBI base knocks to the Crimson rally.

"All season we've been a little timid to swing the bats, and then today we just came out and said, 'Hey, we're going to have to hit with these guys,'" said Mager, who was hit on the back of the arm with a pitch near the end of the second.

The Crimson failed to reach the Friar bullpen after its initial four-run spurt, but Providence may have been better off if it had removed Lewis after the second.