As a result, Salsgiver threw 2 2/3 innings last season in only one game, hardly the regular mound action he expected in college. That one appearance came on the last game of the season—Game 3 of the Ivy Championship against Princeton.
“There were a lot of [scouts] to see [Lance] there,” Walsh says. “The first pitch on the radar gun was 92 [mph]. So you could hear the scouts say, ‘What kind of coach is this guy Walsh that he doesn’t use a kid throwing 92?’”
Walsh laughs about that story now, but has made sure Salsgiver’s lack of mound time won’t repeat this season. Despite mild arm pain, the sophomore will be the team’s regular closer, coming into games in the ninth inning to finish ballgames.
“It’s going to be a little tough, but we think he can do it,” Walsh says, adding, “I can’t keep 92 on the bench.”
Salsgiver, ever tough as nails, couldn’t be happier.
“I like being on the mound and being the guy everyone’s looking to,” he says.
ACING CHEMISTRY
According to Salsgiver, baseball’s odd jumble of mixed nuts couldn’t be tighter.
“Honestly I think the team meshes very well in terms of personality,” he says. “We have more laid-back guys and more serious guys.”
“The laid back guys will keep the more serious guys loose,” he says, “but the guys that are really focused will make sure guys like me are into the game.”
Maybe there is something to this “uneven personalities” business. Maybe Harvard, the national institution, has a leg up on its regional counterparts. The evidence, at least, is kind of there.
Hendricks, ever the strong, silent Texan, checks Salsgiver’s nuttiness. Salsgiver, the super-talented jokester from Flint, keeps Hendricks-types honest.
Brothers in arms and bats, the two versatile stars provide a lethal combination of talent and flexibility, figuring prominently in the 2004 Crimson’s plans for success.
Who knows? Maybe they’ll do the same for a couple of big league ballclubs.
That’s their plan.
So what’s yours?
—Staff writer Alex McPhllips can be reached at rmcphill@fas.harvard.edu.