“He kind of ole-ed it,” Walsh said. “Lentz made the throw, so I suppose you give him the error. But you’ve got to stop that ball.”

It wasn’t the first time Klimkiewicz and Lentz have gotten crossed up trying to cut down a base stealer. In the Crimson’s home opener against Rhode Island, Lentz’s throw bounced off Klimkiewicz’s glove and into left field, allowing the runner to score what became the winning run.

Harvard got better defensive play from its infield in the second game yesterday, including a nifty 4-6-3 twin-killing on a ball up the middle to end the game.

Salsgiver Retakes the Lead

After using him in the leadoff spot in back-to-back games last week, Walsh penciled freshman Lance Salsgiver into the top spot again for both of yesterday’s games.

Salsgiver had split time with Wallace there to start the season, but was inserted in the seven-hole last month for seven straight games. Walsh said yesterday that he moved the fleet-footed rightfielder down in the order because he wanted to maximize the team’s RBI potential out of that spot.

But Wallace batted just .258 (8-for-31) over that seven-game stretch, including four strikeouts in the three games leading up to the Columbia series, when Walsh reinstalled Salsgiver at the top.

“Especially in these seven-inning games, you need to get that leadoff guy on base,” Walsh said.

Salsgiver used his time down in the lineup to correct his approach at the plate. While his leanest stretch—a 2-for-11 spell—didn’t extend longer than three games, that was enough to qualify as a slump for Salsgiver, whose .341 average is third-best on the team.

“I’d guess you’d call it ‘drifting into the ball’,” Salsgiver said of the problems he was experiencing. “I was waving at the ball. I needed to be more aggressive.”

He was yesterday, despite playing with a strained right ACL that he sustained while diving for a ball in practice last week. Salsgiver collected two of the Crimson’s nine hits, and neither of them were cheapies.

After stroking a ground-rule double to center in game one, he just missed making solid contact on a hard fastball from Cornell ace Chris Schutt, settling for a deep fly out to right. Three trips later, he battled through what Walsh later called a “great at-bat,” eventually lining a single to right. He went on to score Harvard’s third run.

Walsh said he was cautious with Salsgiver on the basepaths yesterday because of his knee. But Salsgiver, who leads the team in stolen bases with eight (in eight attempts), expects to get back to his running ways soon. He said yesterday he likes Walsh’s aggressive approach.

“I think most days, if I get on base with no outs, Coach will steal me,” he said.

—Staff writer Brian E. Fallon can be reached at bfallon@fas.harvard.edu.