You could see this one coming.
With winds gusting in from right field at 30 miles per hour on Saturday, junior catcher Schuyler Mann had hit everything Brown’s pitchers threw at him, grounding base hits through all of the holes in the infield and knocking a few more down the lines.
Mann wrapped up Saturday with five singles, all on low liners and sharp grounders, several to the opposite field. He had sat back and taken pitches the other way, instead of trying to drive the ball into the gale force winds in left—and it had paid off.
He had been patient and smart.
But on Sunday, he got to be himself.
And you could see this one coming.
With the wild winds of Saturday stilled, Mann—a right-handed power hitter who loves to pull the ball—turned on two inside pitches and deposited them far beyond the left-field fence in Game 4 to finish an already phenomenal weekend with a flourish.
“I felt confident coming in after a day like [Saturday] and with the wind blowing out,” Mann said.
The Crimson’s cleanup hitter finished the weekend 9-for-15 to raise his batting average to .300 and his homer total to six.
And Mann’s hot streak couldn’t have come at a better time for Harvard, which took three-of-four games from Brown to remain within striking distance of Red Rolfe-leading Dartmouth with one weekend to play.
The final win was highlighted by Mann’s multihomer performance, his second of the season, and first since opening day.
With the Crimson trailing Brown 2-0 in the second inning, Bears starter Brian Tews grooved an 0-1 fastball inside. Big mistake.
Mann lined the ball into the trees in left field to cut the score to 2-1.
Then, with Harvard behind 5-4 in the eighth, Tews hung a slider inside and Mann crushed in 380 feet to tie the ball game.
Still, his most impressive at-bat of the afternoon may have been his last.
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