BOSTON—After the Harvard baseball team fell out of Ivy League contention on Sunday, senior John Birtwell tried to put his final collegiate appearance in perspective. After talking for a bit about how he felt, he simply shrugged.

“The world’s still turning,” he said. “The sun’s still going to come out tomorrow.”

For most of the players, “tomorrow” was actually two days away. Yesterday offered the promise of the Beanpot Tournament at Fenway, and a chance to win something of significance before the season ended—the team’s first Beanpot in over a decade.

But in another sense, “tomorrow” also simply meant the chance to go out and play baseball again. And, in the midst of an ultimately disappointing loss, signs of the sun coming out were still evident.

The sun came out for Barry Wahlberg. The sophomore reliever had enjoyed a pretty good year before Saturday, carrying a sub-3.00 ERA in various roles. But he was shelled in his relief appearance in Saturday’s first game, allowing Dartmouth to turn a three-run lead into an 11-1 advantage. As Wahlberg gave up hit after hit, several Big Green fans began calling for the rest of the Funky Bunch. The Crimson mounted an incredible comeback, but still fell two runs short of tying the game.

Wahlberg rebounded from the crushing loss in emphatic fashion yesterday. He had decent control all afternoon-the radar gun at Fenway had his fastball in the low nineties, and he struck out five in six innings. He allowed only two earned runs, and only really began to show signs of collapse after senior John O’Donnell lost a ball in the sun in the bottom of the sixth, prompting a UMass rally.

It hasn’t been an easy year for Wahlberg. He began the year as the football team’s starting quarterback only to be benched after his first game, an interception-filled loss to Holy Cross. Runs he surrendered against Dartmouth on the mound last week could have meant the difference for the team’s postseason hopes.

But yesterday reaffirmed his promise-at least on the diamond. When asked after the game whether Wahlberg would figure into next season’s rotation, Walsh didn’t hesitate.