“The big important thing was, after winning the first one, you really knew that we had to take two today,” Morgalis said. “I tried to set the tone early in a close game, 2-1, then we broke it open.”
Morgalis gave up a solo shot to Columbia outfielder Ray Waters in the top of the second, but that was all the scoring he would surrender. The Cincinnati standout, a transfer from Notre Dame, looked dominant on the mound, giving up only five hits and two walks and striking out six.
“I tried to keep them out of the game emotionally,” Morgalis said, “because they were really into it the first game.”
Sophomore Lance Salsgiver chipped in three hits for the Crimson, who banged out 11 in all. Harvard’s five-run fifth—started by Mann’s fourth home run of the season—gave the team a 10-1 lead.
That allowed Salsgiver to make a pitching appearance—his first since a season-opening win against Air Force on March 6—with a nine-run cushion in the ninth.
The sophomore was throwing hard, usually for strikes, and, despite surrendering a long leadoff home run to Columbia’s Ryan Schmidt, said he felt good.
“It felt good out there,” he said, “once I got that quick 500-foot home run out of the way.”
HARVARD 4, COLUMBIA 3
Pushed into the weekend-opening slot to face Columbia ace and 2003 First Team All-Ivy Brian Doveala, Harvard starter Jason Brown had quite a task in front of him in Friday’s first game.
But thanks to some early hot-hitting—including a pinch-hit, two-run single in the second by sophomore John Wolff—four runs of support was all the senior from Aqua Dulce, Calif., would need.
Brown (2-0) dueled his way to a 4-3 Harvard win, contributing 5 2/3 strong innings, allowing three runs on six hits. In fact, Brown faced the minimum and did not allow a hit until a one-out double by Columbia’s Steve Compton in the fifth inning broke up the no-hit bid.
“He had a no-no through five,” Walsh said. “And that’s a pretty darn good job. That’s like giving you seven in a nine-inning game, when you get five in [a seven-inning first game of a doubleheader].”
It was the second-consecutive strong league showing for Brown, who allowed one earned run in five innings of relief in a 7-3 loss to Cornell last weekend.
Senior Trey Hendricks had a double and a triple for the Crimson, and senior Marc Hordon and sophomore Chris Mackey chipped in RBI from the bottom of the order in the win. But Wolff—a lefty pinch-hitter for freshman Brendan Byrne in the second against the tough-on-righties Doveala—made the difference.
“You’ve kind of got to work those seven-inning games a little different,” Walsh said. “[Doveala] kind of slings it, keeps it down around the knees. I just made the move there, and with [sophomore Morgan Brown] coming in to the defense afterwards, it worked out good.”
—Staff writer Alex McPhillips can be reached at rmcphill@fas.harvard.edu.