Fourth time's charm.
A Saturday doubleheader sweep of traveling partner Dartmouth, coupled with Friday's Brown-Yale split, made the Harvard baseball team Red Rolfe Division champions for the fourth straight season last weekend.
The Crimson (25-15, 16-4 Ivy) took two in Hanover, N.H., 5-3 and 13-7, behind a complete-game win from freshman righthander Ben Crockett and multi-RBI efforts from senior catcher Jason Keck and senior center fielder Andrew Huling.
That sweep mathematically eliminated the second-place Bears and ensured that Harvard would meet Lou Gehrig Division champions Princeton (24-17, 15-5) in a best-of-three series next weekend in Cambridge for the right to advance to the 64-team field of the NCAA Tournament.
The Crimson and the Tigers have matched up in the last four Ivy Championship Series.
"It's definitely big," said Harvard Assistant Coach Gary Donovan, who assumed managing duties for Coach Joe Walsh yesterday. "It's the first step in the series of goals we set at the beginning of the season, but now winning the Ivy League is next."
Harvard split yesterday's doubleheader at O'Donnell Field, dropping the opener, 4-1, before bouncing back with John Birtwell's 9-0 win in the nightcap.
Harvard 9, Dartmouth 0
Dartmouth was lucky to catch John Birtwell on an off day. Off, that is, because he managed to walk somebody.
The sophomore righthander, who has 48 strikeouts against eight walks this season, threw six shutout innings, scattering three singles while striking out seven and walking one, en route to a 9-0 win.
"I didn't have my best stuff today, and I haven't been feeling like myself all week," Birtwell said. "I didn't feel like I had any pop in my ball. Last week at Brown, I had to rely on junk, and today I threw a lot of changeups and tried to take something off my breaking ball."
Harvard broke open a 3-0 game with five runs in the bottom of the fifth, one off starter Damien Roomets (2-2) and four off reliever Jon Miller.
After a one-out double by captain Hal Carey chased Roomets, Huling drove an RBI single to right for a 4-0 lead. Senior catcher Jason Keck singled and stole second, putting runners at second and third for senior second baseman Peter Woodfork.
Woodfork got fooled and hit a number back to the mound, but Miller slipped as he fielded it, and instead of going to first, fired wildly to the plate. As the ball trickled toward the Big Green dugout, Huling and Keck scored, making it 6-0.
Junior Jeff Bridich and freshman Josh San Salvador followed with back-to-back RBIhits, ending Miller's afternoon. He surrenderedbase hits to all five batters he faced and allowedfour earned runs. Read more in SportsRecommended Articles