Herce (12-2) struck out eight before he began to unravel in the seventh. By that point, Rice had pushed six runs across the plate. Hordon gave up consecutive singles to start the fifth, setting the stage for an RBI groundout by WAC Player of the Year Vincent Sinisi that gave Rice a three run lead.
Hordon struggle to get another out, and two batters later pinch hitter Mike Lorsbach drove a curveball to deep right to give Rice a 4-0 lead, and a sac fly made that 5-0 moments later.
But just when it seemed that the Crimson had no chance of getting back into the game, the Harvard bats showed signs of life.
With the Crimson facing a 6-0 deficit, senior second baseman Faiz Shakir led off that inning with a sharp double down the right field line, and Mager followed that up with a single to give the Crimson first and second with nobody out.
Sophomore Trey Hendricks, a Houston native, drove in the Crimson’s first run with a hit to right. But Mann grounded into a double play and senior Josh San Salvador flied out to end the inning.
“That quieted the chaos,” Rice Coach Wayne Graham said. “I was definitely concerned.”
The chaos would resurface in the eighth.
With one out in the eighth inning and Harvard down 6-2, senior Andrew Brunswick worked a four-pitch, pinch-hit walk off Herce. Hale’s groundout moved Brunswick to second, and Wallace’s double brought him home.
Shakir, the next batter, got to first on a catcher’s interference call, and when Mager singled in another run to make the score 6-3, it suddenly appeared as if the Crimson might have a legitimate shot at coming back.
The situation seemed even rosier when Hendricks’ drive to shallow left appeared to load the bases with two outs for classmate Mickey Kropf.
But then Harvard Coach Joe Walsh gambled as he has several times this season, waving Shakir around from third as Rice’s Chris Kolkhorst gloved the two-hopper and threw to third baseman Hunter Brown. Brown bobbled the ball, but his throw still beat Shakir to the plate, ending the inning and the threat.
“The kid made a good play,” Walsh said.
Rice added some insurance when second baseman Eric Arnold took senior reliever Mike Dryden deep for a two-run homer in the eighth.