“I’ve been in a rhythm the last couple of weeks,” Crockett said. “I’ve been getting ahead in the count a lot more. They know I throw a lot of strikes, and that gets batters to chase a lot of pitches that aren’t strikes and make them strikes.”

Brown had its best chance at building up the lead in the eighth inning. Speedster Rick Lynn started the inning off with a drag bunt down the first base line that Crockett couldn’t field cleanly.

“He did a good job to make me rush it a little bit,” Crockett said. “But that’s the stuff you work on in practice. You’re mad at yourself for a couple of minutes, but you have to flush it out of your head for the next batter.”

Deeb laid down another bunt, but Crockett’s throw to second wasn’t in time to get Lynn at second. With runners at first and second, Matt Kutler hit into a fielder’s choice to short with the Crimson getting Lynn out at second. That would bring up clean-up hitter John Capello, who drilled a ball towards third base. Senior Nick Carter quickly picked it up and wisely threw the ball home to get Deeb out.

With the threat partially averted, Crockett struck out Greg Metzger, one of Brown’s top hitters, to end the inning.

Harvard had a chance to even up the score in the bottom half of the eighth. After a Shakir groundout, sophomore Bryan Hale pinch hit for senior center fielder Chaney Sheffield, drawing a four-pitch walk. Senior shortstop Mark Mager then hit a single off the foot of Brown shortstop John Magaletti, advancing Hale to second. Freshman Ian Wallace flied out to center, but Hale was able to tag up and advance to third, leaving runners on the corners with one out.

Sophomore Marc Hordon came up, pinch hitting for sophomore Trey Hendricks who had injured his knee on a slide in the sixth inning. Making his first plate appearance since injuring his shoulder last weekend, Hordon hit a weak grounder to Stern to end the inning.

Crockett then retired the Bears in order, setting the stage for the drama of the bottom of the ninth.

“Right before the ninth inning, I was thinking that we can’t let a solo homerun beat us—that’s pathetic,” Shakir said. “We need to win this one not just for ourselves, but for Crockett.”

Freshman Schuyler Mann started off the ninth with a chopper hit towards second. Deeb ranged over to field the ball, but it bounced through his legs, letting Mann reach safely. Carter failed at his attempt to sacrifice Mann over to second, ultimately striking out swinging.

That brought up senior Josh San Salvador, who last week hit a walk-off home run to beat the Bears 13-12. S an Salvador couldn’t repeat his heroics this time, however, as he struck out swinging. With the Crimson’s season down to its final out, Walsh decided he had to play the numbers, pinch-hitting for senior Javy Lopez with Kropf, and pinch-running Mann with the faster Seminara.

“I just didn’t think that I could leave a left handed batter on the bench in that situation,” Walsh said. “Lefties have a better chance against Stern because of his breaking ball.”

After Kropf quickly fell behind 0-2 in the count, the Crimson was down to its final strike. Stern threw a pitch that Kropf took that the umpire thought was just barely outside. Many in the Brown dugout and fans from both sides in the crowd thought the game was over.

“I didn’t think [the 0-2 pitch] was anywhere near [the strike zone],” Kropf said.

With little to lose, Walsh decided to gamble, sending Seminara on the 1-2 pitch. Seminara would barely beat out the tag at second, but the Crimson suddenly had a man in scoring position.