NEW YORK--Showcasing both sides of its personality, the Harvard baseball team played two clean games on its opening Ivy League weekend and two forgettable ones.

As luck would have it, the Crimson dropped only one of four.

Harvard took an eight-inning, 18-16 decision from Penn on Friday, but a late rally fell short in Saturday's nightcap at Columbia, with Harvard losing 9-8 in a game the Lions tried their best to give away.

Sandwiched in between those messy two were a pair of pitching gems--sophomore John Birtwell's 6-0 shutout of Penn and freshman Ben Crockett's 9-1 mastery of Columbia--that allowed Harvard to post a 3-1 mark on the weekend.

But although the Crimson (9-8, 3-1 Ivy) took three of four from two Gehrig Division foes, nobody was talking about a successful weekend.

"We shouldn't lose to this ball club," said Harvard Assistant Coach Gary Donovan after the loss to Columbia on Saturday. Coach Joe Walsh was attending to a family matter and did not travel to New York.

"We took three out of four this weekend, but we haven't played well and we're not happy at all," Donovan said.

In comments that reflected the palpable disgust of the two-time defending Ivy champs, captain Hal Carey said the team was totally dissatisfied.

"Winning three games isn't really any consolation," Carey said. "We come into every weekend looking to win four, and we feel we're a better team than this."