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.”

Sophomore Marc Hordon, Harvard’s leading hitter, was out with a broken hand, while outfielders Chaney Sheffield and Andrew Brunswick were also injured.

Holy Cross jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the top of the first inning .

Sophomore Jason Brown (0-2) gave up consecutive base hits to right fielder John Rauss and third baseman John Powers to open the game.

Second baseman Peter Summa then singled up the middle to drive in Rauss.

The Crimson used four pitchers despite allowing only one earned run and three hits in three innings of work.

The Crusaders’ second run came in the seventh inning. Designated hitter Drew Bigda singled off of Crimson reliever Rob Wheeler, and advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt by Andreskevich.

Bigda then scored on a base hit by first baseman Eric Tapper.

It was the the fifth time in six games that the Harvard pitching staff had allowed two earned runs or less.

“The two things that have been constantly great for us are our pitching and defense,” Mager said. “We got out of a couple of jams today [because of it].’

The Crimson will play its first home games this weekend when it hosts league foes Penn and Columbia in double headers on Saturday and Sunday. The first game will begin at noon each day.