The game started ominously, as the first four Dartmouth players reached on soft singles off of Birtwell, scoring a run. But after a meeting on the mound, Birtwell pitched out of a bases-loaded, no out jam.

The next batter hit into a 6-4-3 double play, and Birtwell got the next hitter to ground out, escaping the inning after giving up only two runs.

The Crimson roared back in the bottom of the inning, batting around for five runs. The explosion was highlighted by designated hitter Scott Hopps' three-run double to deep left-center.

Nickerson brought Dartmouth within one with a two-run homer to left in the third. He gave the runs right back the next inning, when his two-out, bases-loaded throwing error off a short grounder by Harvard shortstop Mark Mager allowed two runs to score. Mager was officially credited with a hit on the play.

Harvard extended its lead in the fifth, scoring two runs on four hits. Sloppy fielding hurt the Big Green here too, when Lentz scored on a dropped pop fly to right field.

After Dartmouth scored a run in the sixth, the Crimson got another run in the bottom of the inning on sophomore third baseman Nick Carter's RBI single, producing the final score.

Birtwell pitched all seven innings for the Crimson, surrendering five runs, four of them earned, on nine hits.