The Crimson offense-which hit for a league-worst .258 average last year-was rejuvenated in 2001. Junior third baseman Nick Carter emerged as one of the finest all-around hitters in New England, leading the team in almost every offensive category. Shortstop Mark Mager was again a hit machine, batting .343 on the year. Senior Joe Llanes and sophomore Brian Lentz both scored and knocked in at least 20 runs apiece, while junior outfielder Javy Lopez bounced back from a devastating freshman-year eye injury to hit .314.

As the season progressed, the Crimson also received more and more production from its rookies. Switch-hitting Trey Hendricks was thrown into the fire immediately, but responded well, hitting .300 with 23 RBI out of the cleanup spot. After struggling at the plate in the early-going, freshman center fielder Bryan Hale clubbed five home runs in one week's time and by the end of the year, raised his average up to a respectable .270.

By the time the heart of the Ivy schedule rolled around, the Harvard lineup was wreaking havoc on opposing pitchers, all the while receiving one solid outing after another from its own staff. After splitting its games with its first four Ivy opponents, the Crimson took three out of four in its series with both Brown and Yale. During the most important stretch of the season, the Crimson was playing its best baseball of the year.

Then came the Lost Weekend.

Harvard had needed to simply split its four games with Dartmouth to assure itself of at least at least a tie for first place. That seemed a fairly manageable task since the Crimson had done no worse nor split in any of its five series with Ivy opponents up to that point.

But against Dartmouth, the Crimson broke down one game at a time. In the series opener, sophomore lefthander Kenon Ronz was not at all his usual self, and sophomore reliever Barry Wahlberg fared even worse, as Dartmouth jumped out to an 11-1 lead. The Crimson bats rallied for seven runs in its next trip to the plate to trim the deficit to 11-8, but Dartmouth's advantage proved too great. The Crimson fell 11-9.

In the second game, a three-run homer by Lentz-his second of the day-gave Harvard a 5-2 lead after seven and a half innings of play. That seemed to provide all the run support necessary for junior starter Justin Nyweide, who was cruising along just as he had done all season. But Nyweide tired in the bottom of the eighth, and Dartmouth's Brian Nickerson connected for a three-run homer that tied the game at five. A solo homer by Dartmouth's Mike Levy in the tenth off of Harvard senior John Birtwell-who had come on in relief-gave Dartmouth a momentous, come-from-behind win.