In an unusual occurrence yesterday, the Harvard baseball team's hitters bailed out its pitchers. They did it in more ways than one. After a wild game in which Crimson arms had yielded eight runs on 12 hits, it was third baseman Nick Carter who turned in the cleanest inning of work.

Carter pitched a perfect ninth as the Crimson (9-17, 4-4 Ivy) used a four-run eighth inning to beat Holy Cross (10-14) yesterday, 9-8, at blustery O'Donnell Field. Junior Javy Lopez capped the rally with a two-out single into the outfield with runners on first and second. The play ended with sophomore catcher Brian Lentz caught in a rundown between second and third, but not before senior outfielder Scott Carmack scored the winning run.

Harvard Coach Joe Walsh then brought Carter in to close the game, and the junior delivered, striking out designated hitter Chris Doneski to end a wild affair marked by an explosion of wind-aided offense.

"We haven't gotten 14 hits in a game all year," Walsh said. "Nowhere near that many."

The Crimson didn't get many of those hits until late in the ballgame, as it faced a 4-0 deficit in the bottom of the third inning. Holy Cross' James Arrante, a righty who had only made one other start this year, had held the Crimson bats in check with series after series of fastballs.

But the Crimson managed to scrape a few runs together in the middle innings to stay within striking distance.

In the bottom of the eighth with the Crimson down 8-5, Holy Cross brought in Ryan Kenny, a reliever whom opponents had batted .353 against so far this year. Kenny (3-4) promptly hit freshman Brian Hale with a pitch, and after striking out the next batter, he threw wide of first in his attempt to pick Hale off. Hale scurried to third on the error, and a clearly-rattled Kenny went on to hit Mickey Kropf to put runners on the corners with one out.

Carter, who had already hit a home run in the third inning, then singled to plate Hale and bring Harvard within two. After freshman pinch-hitter Marc Hordon was called out on a questionable pitch inside, Carmack walked to load the bases.