Perhaps more important than the offensive production to this year’s club is the comfort level that the infield has with each other.

“Nick and I are on the left side together and we have fun,” Mager said. “One of us will make a play, and we’ll look at each other and give a high five. It’s the same with the other guys. I’m playing with my best friends, so I almost always have a smile on my face.”

Shakir should provide the Crimson with both speed on the base paths and smooth fielding at second base. He led the team with 10 stolen bases in 11 attempts last season, while making just four errors in 126 opportunities.

San Salvador posted a team best .993 fielding percentage at first, but will be competing for playing time with sophomores Trey Hendricks and Marc Hordon.

Hendricks batted .300 last season to receive honorable mention all-Ivy honors. Hordon showed flashes of brilliance in limited action, posting a .354 average in 48 at-bats.

Freshman shortstop Ian Wallace and freshman first baseman Rob Wheeler will provide depth in the infield.

Losing Lentz

Anchoring the infield this season should have been Brian Lentz, an all-Ivy First Team selection in 2000. Lentz, though, chose not to return for his junior season, leaving a battle between a trio of underclassmen—sophomore Mickey Kropf, junior Brent Chalmers and freshman Schuyler Mann—for the starting catching position.

All three, according to Nyweide, have proved themselves as capable replacements.

“Coming into the season everyone had pretty high on their list of concerns filling the hole [left by Lentz],” Nyweide said. “He had been such a force on the bases and a leader behind the plate. But I couldn’t have asked for more from Mickey and Schuyler and Brent. They have answered those concerns.”

Kropf, who at 6’5 is Harvard’s tallest player, started five games last season, but struggled to a .208 average in his limited plate appearances. Kropf is the only potential backstop with any collegiate baseball experience.

Chalmers, a former football player who switched to the diamond this season, broke his leg shortly before opening day, leaving Kropf and Mann splitting time behind the plate in the Crimson’s season-opening series at No. 4 Rice.

Mann was the only freshman to see extensive action against the Owls.