Senior Kenon Ronz—who was consistent the entire season and assumed the role of ace in Hendricks’ absence—earned the first victory with a gutsy, complete game seven-hitter that set the stage for Barry Wahlberg.

In a slugfest of epic proportions—Dartmouth didn’t have a No. 4 pitcher either—the Crimson took an early 7-4 lead, but when the Big Green threatened to tie it up, Walsh brought in his closer—in the fourth inning.

Wahlberg, the senior captain who had put out fire after fire during the championship run the year before, was heroic in his longest outing in over a year. He allowed three earned runs, but never let the game get too close as the Crimson clinched its sixth Red Rolfe title in eight seasons, 14-10.

The result was especially satisfying considering the merciless, classless taunting the team had endured on Saturday at Dartmouth.

“After [Saturday’s] fiasco—we took a lot of grief from their fans—I thought the guys really wanted to win,” Walsh said.

That set up the meeting with Princeton on Pauly’s home grass. Harvard lost the first game on two errors by freshman third baseman Josh Klimkiewicz, which yielded three unearned runs in a 5-2 defeat. But it won game two on Klimkiewicz’s bat.

With the top prospect in the Ivy League, Ross Ohlendorf, throwing for Princeton—his 95-mph fastball has earned him first-round status—Klimkiewicz was unfazed. He drove in all four of the Crimson’s runs with a double and a homer in his only two at-bats against Ohlendorf as Brunnig earned the 4-3 victory.

Then there was game three and Pauly, the worthy foe that ended the Crimson season. Pauly allowed two second-inning runs, but only yielded a single hit over the next seven frames in the 5-2 Princeton win.

But even before the last Princeton player had leaped onto the pile on the mound, thoughts of next year were already creeping in.

The season did have its share of stellar seniors. There was the reemergence of catcher Brian Lentz and the rebirth of Ronz. Then there was the replay of Wahlberg’s 2002 dominance. Lentz and Wahlberg were first-team All-Ivy honorees, Ronz second-team.

But the rest of the big contributors will be back, including three of the team’s top four pitchers and 12 of its top 13 hitters. Mann, widely considered the second-best catcher in the league behind Lentz, should assume full-time duties behind the plate. Hordon will return, as will the strongest freshman class in recent memory—led by Zak Farkes, Lance Salsgiver, Klimkiewicz and Brunnig.

And perhaps most importantly, Hendricks—another first-teamer who batted .387 and had the league’s top slugging percentage—will be back at full strength.

“As a coach, you start to think about next year as soon as you get on the bus,” Walsh said after the game. “We’ve got some cornerstones in place, and it’s good that they’ve gotten some championship-game experience.”

—Staff writer Lande A. Spottswood can be reached at spottsw@fas.harvard.edu.

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