BOSTON--On an overcast day at Yawkey Way, the Harvard baseball team had an afternoon typical of Fenway Park's usual inhabitants--bitterly disappointing.

A ninth-inning rally fell one run short as junior first baseman Erik Binkowski grounded into a game-ending double play with the tying run on third, and the Crimson dropped yesterday's Beanpot semifinal to UMass, 13-12.

The Crimson (21-14, 13-3 Ivy) entered the inning trailing 13-10, but put its first four batters aboard, and got an RBI single from freshman shortstop Mark Mager and a sacrifice fly from senior center fielder Andrew Huling to close the gap to 13-12.

That left runners at the corners with one out for Binkowski, who finished 2-for-5 with three RBI and a run scored.

Binkowski battled UMass reliever Nick Skirkanich to a two-strike count, then drove a split-fingered fastball up the middle, where second baseman Shaun Skeffington ranged to his right, scooped up the grounder, stepped on second and gunned to first, beating Binkowski by two steps.

"[Skirkanich] had thrown me three splitters," Binkowski said. "So I was looking for one. He threw one down the middle and I hit it back up the middle, which is what I'm supposed to do. Yeah, I was upset that I hit into the double play, but I don't know what I could have done differently in the at-bat."

With the win, the Minutemen (22-12) advance to their fourth straight Beanpot final, where they will meet Boston College, 9-7 winners over Northeastern in yesterday's first semifinal. Harvard has not won the Beanpot outright since 1991.

"We had the right guys up, our three-four-five," senior catcher Jason Keck said. "Huling did a good job and Bink hit it right on the nose, but at somebody. It's especially disappointing for the seniors because we haven't won in four tries."

UMass bounced back from a 10-4 deficit through four innings by reeling off nine straight runs behind the bats of two outfielders. Right fielder Aaron Braunstein was 3-for-4 with three RBI and four runs scored, and center fielder Nick Gorneault went 4-for-4 with five RBI and three runs scored.

Gorneault also cranked a two-run home run over the Green Monster in the top of the ninth off Harvard reliever Derek Lennon for what proved to be the winning runs. Braunstein had hit a two-run job off starter Dan Saken in the third.

"We hit the ball well, but so did they," said junior designated hitter Jeff Bridich, who was 2-for-5 with three RBI and a home run. "They hit the ball well enough to come up with one more run. These two teams were evenly matched. The score indicated that and the game indicated that."

The Minutemen started their comeback in the fifth, scoring four to close to 10-8 and chase Saken, who worked 4.1 innings, allowing five earned runs on seven hits.

Freshman Justin Nyweide (0-3) spelled Saken with runners on first and second, then surrendered an RBI double to Braunstein and a two-run triple to Gorneault before an RBI groundout by first baseman Gavin Clark made it 10-8.

Nyweide settled down, retiring six in a row at one point with a nice fastball-curveball combination before loading the bases on a single and two walks in the seventh.

Nyweide gave way to lefthander Matt Devine, who got pinch hitter Kevin O'Connell, the only batter he faced, to bounce into a RBI groundout to make it 10-9.