On days like this, when seasons end suddenly, Walsh has a reputation among Crimson sportswriters for speaking eloquently about his departing seniors, and yesterday was no different.
He talked about Hendricks a lot. About how it “killed him” to not get to play against Yale, when he was sidelined with back spasms on the only day of the Ivy season Harvard was swept. About how he embraced his move to third base when injuries left little choice. About how “he’s going to get a shot in pro ball, and he deserves it.”
He talked about his other captain, too. About Bryan Hale and his defense in centerfield and the way that not once—not once—in four seasons had he ever seen Hale not run his hardest to first base. Not on pop-ups. Not on flyouts. Not ever. And how that was what he was going to remember about Bryan Hale years from now.
He talked about his senior pitchers, Jason Brown and Mike Morgalis, and how they deserved better fates in their final Ivy weekend. He talked about how Brown had never thrown as hard as he did that day, and about how Morgalis had been shafted by the umpires the day before.
He talked about his four bulldogs.
“We’re always trying to get some tough, hard-nosed kids to play here,” Walsh said, “and you can put those kids at the top. You could sit here and talk about the home runs and the strikeouts, but that’s not why they’re going to be missed.”
And that’s exactly why it’s so sad that they will end their season not again Princeton—or Miami or Rice—but against Northeastern. Not in the Ivy Championship Series or an NCAA Regional, but in the make-up date of a rainout. Not in Mark Light Stadium or Reckling Park, but on O’Donnell Field.
Harvard baseball isn’t about a lot of things. It isn’t about large crowds or state-of-the-art facilities or sparkling new stadiums. But it has always been about the intense and peculiar pressure of an Ivy title run.
Walsh said his seniors are what Harvard baseball is all about.
And that’s why it’s a shame that their last two games won’t be Harvard baseball.
—Staff writer Lande A. Spottswood can be reached at spottsw@fas.harvard.edu.