Nyweide followed orders, and Nickerson promptly bashed the off-speed pitch over the left field fence for a three-run homer to tie the game.

Walsh took full responsibility for the decision yesterday.

"That's my regret right there," Walsh said. "It was a bad call-I called it."

Before the fateful at-bat, Birtwell had been playing catch lightly in the Harvard bullpen, seemingly ready to enter the game if called upon. But he did not get the call until one inning later.

"Nyweide had pitched real well and deserved that opportunity to face [Nickerson]," Walsh said. "I liked the match-up there because Nyweide had three pitches [fastball, change-up, and curve] going."

Harvard was forced to deal with Nickerson again at a critical point in the early game yesterday.

With the Crimson two outs away from nailing down a 2-1 victory, Nickerson came up with the tying run at second. After a lengthy discussion with Birtwell on the mound, Walsh made the decision to challenge Nickerson-who had already gone 2-for-3 on the day-rather than pitch around him.

"We didn't want to pitch around Nickerson because you'd be putting what would have been the go-ahead run on. You had to pitch to him," Walsh said. "I just told [Birtwell]... to make him chase a bad pitch. And if he did lose [Nickerson], I thought we could get the next guy."