It was a false omen of what was to come. Hordon set down the next 13 batters in a row and allowed just one runner past second base all afternoon.

“I was a little jittery at the beginning but I settled down after that and was able to throw some strikes,” Hordon said. “[Catcher] Mickey [Kropf] was able to frame some pitches to make me look good.”

Hordon broke his left hand in Harvard’s 6-2 win over Cornell on April 7 when he was hit by a pitch at the plate and then took a line drive off the same spot while pitching. The injury continues to prevent him from batting pending the results of an x-ray early this week, but he showed no indications that it interfered with his efforts on the hill yesterday.

“We made an effort as a staff to mix it up against the hitters this weekend and try to throw our offspeed stuff for strikes,” Hordon said.

The Crimson exploded for four runs in the top of the first on four consecutive RBI doubles. Mager, Hendricks, DH Schuyler Mann and third baseman Nick Carter all found the gaps to give the Crimson an early lead.

After struggling to come up with clutch hits during the Crimson’s recent slump, the heart of the Crimson order was highly productive this weekend.

The only exception prior to yesterday had been Carter, who went a combined 0-for-8 in Saturday’s doubleheader. But he joined the hit parade yesterday, going 4-for-8 in the twinbill.

The Crimson extended its lead by two runs in the second inning on a fielder’s choice grounder by Mager and an RBI single by Hendricks. The outburst chased Yale’s Matt McCarthy (2-3) from the game.

Bulldog reliever Doug Feller shut the Crimson out over the final 5.1 innings, but Yale was helpless against Hordon, who improved to 2-1.

Harvard 8, Yale 3

Crockett was a man among boys Saturday afternoon.

Through the first six innings, he had made exactly two mistakes. The first came in the bottom of the second on a pitch that Yale catcher Darren Beasley poked just out of the reach of a diving Mager for a single up the middle. The other was a fifth-inning offering that strayed too far inside on Yale first baseman Justin Walters and plunked him.

Those were Yale’s only two baserunners until the seventh inning. Only Beasley advanced past first, stealing second when Mann’s throw sailed a bit too high to apply the tag in time.

Crockett struck out 10 batters through the first six innings, featuring a healthy combination of three pitches that kept the Yale lineup befuddled.

“I had a changeup going the best I’ve had it in a while,” Crockett said. “I kind of lost it for a little bit [earlier this season].”