PHILADELPHIA--The Harvard coaching staff has consistently pointed to a deep pitching staff as the club's greatest strength.

But performances like John Birtwell's in Friday's nightcap makes you wonder if all of those arms are really necessary.

The sophomore righthander made a smooth-as-silk changeup work with his two-seam and four-seam fastballs, and fashioned a four-hit, 12-strikeout shutout for his first win of the season.

"I felt like today was a good day because I threw three pitches for strikes," Birtwell said. "I was glad I was able to pick the team up because we haven't been playing like ourselves lately."

Birtwell worked through the Penn order with the impatience of a man who had to wait out a marathon three-hour, 30-minute opener before getting on the bump.

He retired 21 of the 26 batters he faced and never faced more than four men in one inning. He also struck out each member of the Quaker lineup at least once.

"Birtwell's going to be a key to our season, definitely," Walsh said. "I was happy about his approach, his quickness and his ability to throw three pitches, especially his changeup, for strikes."

In fact, the only thing Birtwell did wrong on the afternoon was dropping Binkowski's flip from the infield side of first base after Binkowski made a diving stop on James Mullen in the sixth.