So when Salsgiver and Dukovich both walked in the ninth inning to bring the tying run to the plate with two outs, Walsh didn’t have many choices.
He had used his favorite pinch hitter, sophomore Rob Wheeler, in the seventh. Senior Nick Seminara had pinch run for Wheeler. Sophomore A.J. Solimine was already pinch running for Dukovich. And he sure couldn’t let captain and closer Barry Wahlberg—who was slated to hit—grab a bat.
Instead, Walsh crossed his fingers and sent out Frank Herrmann—a freshman outfielder with only two career hits in 15 at-bats—to face the league’s top pitcher. Herrmann worked the count to 1-1 before going down swinging as Pauly’s 10th strikeout victim of the afternoon.
“It’s only 313 [feet] down that line,” Walsh said, “and I was just hoping for a dream come true.”
Hendricks, who has not played since the Yale series in mid-April while recovering from surgery to remove a bone chip from his knee, sat in the dugout yesterday in his uniform but no cleats. If Hendricks were in the lineup, Dukovich—who had an RBI single off Pauly along with his ninth-inning walk—would have been available on the bench in addition to Herrmann when Walsh needed a ninth-inning miracle.
Not to mention, the Crimson would have had its cleanup hitter back.
“[Not having Trey] shows up,” Walsh said. “You can’t play as many games as we have without that showing up.”
Running Like Mad
Facing a pitcher with a 5-1 record and a 0.92 ERA, Walsh decided there was only one good strategy—run.
With every opportunity, the Crimson did yesterday, often to its own detriment.
With two outs and two runs already having crossed the plate in the second, Harvard had Dukovich on first and a lot of momentum. But when freshman left fielder Chris Mackey fell behind 0-2 to Pauly, Walsh called for the delayed steal and Princeton catcher Tim Lahey gunned Dukovich out at second.
Then, in the third inning, Farkes was on first with two outs and Lentz—the Crimson’s top hitter—at the plate. Farkes attempted to steal on the first pitch to get in scoring position, but was also thrown out.
All of this came a game after Harvard ran wild on Princeton. In the Crimson’s 4-3 win in game two, Harvard stole six bases, including four by Salsgiver.
—Staff writer Lande A. Spottswood can be reached at spottsw@fas.harvard.edu.