Brown will come off of three days of rest after having its nine-game winning streak snapped on Tuesday by Providence College. The Friars, who were defeated by the Crimson 13-6 earlier in the year, overcame an early 3-0 Bears lead to win decisively 11-5. Brown junior left-fielder Jeff Lawler went 3-4, upping his team-leading average to .394.
The loss came only two days after the conclusion of a dazzling weekend that saw the furried forest-walkers trounce Dartmouth in Hanover in four contests by a combined total of 26-6.
Like Brown, Harvard is hot. Riding a six-game win streak, and winners of 9 of its last 11, the Crimson looks to pave the way toward an Ivy Championship with a solid showing in Providence.
Harvard is coming off of last weekend's four game sweep of Yale, in which it outscored the Bulldogs 43-18 in a breakout offensive performance.
Five days of well-deserved rest from its intense schedule should do Harvard well. They will now be able to use all of their firepower by using their four best pitchers to go out and bring home the Division title.
The Crimson will undoubtedly start aces John Birtwell and Garret Vail in an attempt to stop the Bears. Birtwell is 3-2 with a 2.19 ERA. He has struck out 42 and allowed only 24 hits in 37 dominating innings this year. Vail is 1-2 but sports a 2.73 ERA to go along with his 33 strikeouts in as many innings. Both men picked up key victories in strong outings against Yale.
"[Brown] will have a lot of enthusiasm when they face us," Birtwell said. "Our pitchers will need to change speeds, hit spots and keep them off balance to win."
And from an offensive perspective, this could not be a better time for the Crimson to prove its worth. Captain Hal Carey, senior Andrew Huling, senior Jason Keck, junior Eric Binkowski and freshman Mark Mager combined last weekend to go 35-for-74 (.473) against the beleaguered Bulldogs, good enough to raise the cumulative team batting average to an even .300.
Huling enters this weekend after going 8-for-13 (.615) against Yale last weekend and carries a .406 batting average with 5 home runs, 38 RBI and a sizzling .703 slugging percentage, not to mention an on-base average of .472. He leads the Crimson in nearly every offensive category.
Mager and senior second-baseman Peter "Woody" Woodfork have also been important offensive contributors. Mager is hitting .342 with 20 RBI in only 73 at-bats, and Woodfork is hitting .361 with 22 RBI. The Crimson will need hits from this supporting cast if it hopes to be victorious.
"This will be a weekend of two teams with similar styles," Binkowski said. "Both are aggressive. Whoever produces in major situations will win."