Accordingly, senior Donnie Jamieson worked the fifth inning, shutting down the UMass batters to set the stage for more Carey heroics.

With one down, sophomore John Portman laid a neat but up the third base alley and beat the throw at first.

Once again, Carey stepped up and jumped on an offering from UMass starter Jesse Santos deep to right center field. Like a recurring bad dream, the Minutemen watched Carey round the bases and take a 4-3 lead.

"Hal really came through today," Walsh said.

The teams traded runs in the bottom of the sixth and top of the seventh, but UMass never mounted a serious threat to the Crimson lead.

"We did a good job today shutting down the middle of their lineup," Walsh said.

Harvard earned a run in the sixth when freshman Faiz Shakir, in for Woodfork at second, led off the inning with a bunt for hit and a stolen base. With two outs freshman shortstop Mark Mager ripped a line drive single to left to drive Shakir in.

Shakir again played a key role in Harvard's sixth run, stroking a double to deep right center in the top of the eighth. Keck moved Shakir to third, and first baseman Erik Binkowski was intentionally walked.

The speedy Shakir stole home when Binkowski was caught in a rundown between first and second.

Junior Derek Lennon worked the final 1.1 innings for the save.

Harvard looks ahead to a showdown with Princeton this weekend to determine the Ivy League champion.

"We've got momentum and we're healthy," Walsh said. "Princeton is a very similar team to us, and it will come down to who plays better defense."

Notes:

Today's games were the last regular season home contests for eight Harvard seniors, although the Crimson host Princeton this weekend. With these important games approaching, the seniors were unwilling to rest on their laurels.

"These seniors have been contributors from the start," Walsh said. They came to this program when it was at the bottom of the league, and they've been terrific. Four straight division titles is very impressive."