Down 1-0 with two outs, facing a 3-2 count, sophomore pinch hitter Mickey Kropf—and Harvard’s entire season—was down to his final strike. Junior pinch runner Nick Seminara stood at second, two bases away from tying up the game. Kropf fouled off four pitches before finally connecting on a long drive to deep right-center.

The ball passed just over the head of Brown center fielder Rick Lynn, giving Kropf a most improbable triple to tie the game.

“I was ready,” the left-handed Kropf said. “[Brown starter Jonathan Stern’s] pitches looked like he was a lot tougher on righties. Lefties had a pretty good time with him the other day he started. “

Kropf would score on the very next pitch, as senior second baseman Faiz Shakir hit a bloop single to left to win the one-game playoff, 2-1, and give the Crimson the Red Rolfe Division title.

“I thought he was going to throw a curveball,” Shakir said. “I was looking for it, and I got enough of the barrel on it to drop it in there. It was garbage, but I’ll take it.”

Clutch playoff-winning hits are nothing new for Shakir. As a freshman three years ago, Shakir hit a bases-loaded, two-out single in the bottom of the ninth to beat Princeton in the Ivy Championship Series.

With the win, the Crimson (18-23, 14-7 Ivy) earned a spot in the Ivy League Championship Series against Princeton (22-21, 13-7). Harvard will host the two-time defending Ivy champions in a best-of-three series at O’Donnell Field beginning with a double-header Saturday at noon. Sunday’s game, if necessary, will start at 1 p.m.

The winner advances to the NCAA Regionals beginning May 31.

The game started rather odiously for the Crimson. Stern struck out the side in the bottom of the first, and Brown got on the board in the top of the second. Bears third-baseman Jeff Nichols hit a towering fly ball over the trees in left-center field to give Brown the 1-0 lead.

But that one pitch would be the only mistake Harvard ace and captain Ben Crockett would make. Pitching on only three days of rest, fresh off a complete game against Dartmouth, Crockett pitched a nine-inning gem, striking out 16 Brown batters.

“In this type of game, you throw the pitch count away,” Walsh said.

At one stretch in the middle innings, Crockett retired eight Brown batters in a row, six by strikeout. Stern was just as good, retiring eight in a row in a stretch in the first four innings, with five strike outs. He would finish the game with 14.

“[Stern] was tremendous,” Walsh said. “Coming into the game I didn’t expect to get the door slammed on us.”

Over his last two outings ,Crockett has struck out 29 batters without allowing a walk. His performances against Brown were even more amazing. In two starts against the Bears, Crockett has struck out 33 batters.

For his games last week against Brown and Dartmouth, Crockett was named USA Today’s Baseball Weekly’s Player of the Week.