With sophomore catcher Mickey Kropf standing on second base in the top of the ninth inning, the Harvard baseball team was 180 feet from a tie ball game. It was also three outs from defeat.

Strikeout. Popout. Groundout. Game over.

Stranding its eighth runner of the game, the Crimson’s late rally came up short as Harvard dropped a 2-1 decision to Holy Cross at Fitton Field yesterday.

“I didn’t think that the team felt a sense of urgency, like ‘Let’s go out there and score,” said senior shortstop Mark Mager. “There were some positives, but for the most part we were floating through the game. We didn’t capitalize when we should have.”

Down 2-0 in the top of the ninth, sophomore designated hitter Trey Hendricks doubled to right field to leadoff the inning. Kropf then chopped a ball to Holy Cross shortstop Mike Schell, who threw the ball away. Hendricks scored on the play, and Kropf advanced to second.

But Crusader relief pitcher D.J. Lucey retired freshman first baseman Schuyler Mann, sophomore center fielder Bryan Hale and freshman right fielder Ian Wallace in order to end the ballgame.

Five Holy Cross pitchers combined to silence the Crimson bats which had made so much noise while leading Harvard (7-13, 4-0 Ivy) to the top of the Red Rolfe standings last weekend.

The Crusaders (8-14), led by winning pitcher Jason Lynch (2-1), surrendered only five hits, two walks and no earned runs to the same line-up that had roughed up Cornell for 18 runs in two games on Sunday.

The sterling pitching was almost negated by poor fielding, but the Crimson could not take advantage of three Holy Cross errors in the final three innings.

Down 1-0 in the top of the seventh, Kropf reached on a dropped fly ball by Crusader left fielder Bill Andreskevich.

A walk to Mann and a fielder’s choice by Hale put men on first and third with two outs.

But both runners were stranded when Wallace struck out to end the threat.

Mager reached on a two-out error by Dan Powers in the eighth, but was stranded at first when senior third baseman Nick Carter grounded out.

Harvard stranded runners in each of the final five innings.

“The team came out flat today,” Carter said. “We lost some intensity coming off of a big weekend, and everyone was a little down because of the guys that were missing.”