The big Crimson inning came off Daveola (1-4) in the fourth. With freshman Schuyler Mann on first, senior shortstop Mark Mager lined one just to the right of the first baseman to give the Crimson second and third with one out. Enter Hale, whose moonshot was the first of his season and fifth of his career. It was also the first home run the Crimson had hit at home all weekend after its opponents had hit eight on the weekend.

“He’s got spurts of power,” Lopez said. “He just got a hold of one.”

Mann’s appearance in the ninth slot in the order yesterday was unusual, but he made a case for moving up a bit with a leadoff shot to left in the sixth.

“I put Schuyler in the nine-hole for the first time today and pinch hit for him in the first game,” Walsh said. “I think he came in with a little chip on his shoulder and came up to the plate and said, ‘Hey, I’m not a nine-hole guy.’ Sometimes you gotta do that.”

Harvard added some more insurance in the eighth. Sheffield, who was moved to right in the seventh in favor of Hendricks, did a little bit of everything yesterday. The senior jumped on Lions reliever Jason Magnus with a leadoff double, eventually scoring on a wild-pitch and triggering a three-run eighth.

Hendricks allowed one run in 2.2 innings to preserve the victory.

Columbia 12, Harvard 5

This wasn’t a very good weekend on the mound for junior Barry Wahlberg. After taking the first loss on Saturday, Wahlberg came on to replace junior Matt Self. Self had pitched four solid innings and allowed one unearned run, holding off the Lions long enough for the Crimson to creep within a run after being down 6-0.

But Wahlberg promptly allowed a leadoff homer to light-hitting Fernando Perez. Wahlberg walked the next batter he faced, hit second baseman Billy Hess and give up a two-run double to Matt Buckmiller before Walsh pulled him in favor of sophomore Jason Brown. Brown was only able to get the Crimson out of the inning after two more runs on a triple by Derek Johnson and a Keith Palmieri sacrifice fly to put the game out of reach.

Prior to that point, Harvard had clawed its way back from a disastrous third inning by Madhu Satyanarayana. The junior had allowed six runs in the third inning of a scoreless game, including a three-run job over the trees in right by Catsam.

Catsam, the Columbia catcher, had been 6-for-11 with two home runs for his career against Crimson pitching coming into this weekend.

Satyanaryana (1-2) was pulled for Self, who held Columbia to two hits in long relief and made a Crimson rally possible. Harvard scored runs on sacrifices by freshman Ian Wheeler and Shakir in the fourth inning and had first and second with two outs after a Javy Lopez single, but Kropf struck out swinging on a full count to end the inning.

The Crimson kept chipping away in the fifth thanks to two Columbia errors and its own hustle. Mager ran out a grounder to third and was rewarded when Steve Compton’s throw pulled first baseman Keith Palmieri off the bag. Hale knocked a pitch off Palmieri’s leg on the next at-bat and beat the flip to first. After senior Nick Carter hit into a fielder’s choice to give the Crimson first and third with one out, Mager raced home on a wild pitch.

Two batters later, Sheffield lined one that Perez misjudged in right field, and Carter scored to bring the Crimson within one.