With a hot Saturday sun playing the role of spotlight, an eager baseball audience was treated to the debut of The Steffan Wilson Show in the newly renovated bullpen of O’Donnell Field.

After playing third base for seven innings in the second game of a double-header against Cornell, the slugging freshman phenom entered a chain-link pen surrounded by Harvard fans to prepare for a potential slide from the hot corner to the pitching mound. And whether sitting or standing, an entire audience stopped to see exactly how hard the much-heralded green-horn could bring it.

After he dangerously sailed one of the first pitches of his warm-up over the fence, the answer—all quickly discovered—was “very.”

Wilson, however, quickly found his bearings.

The right-hander unveiled a sharp leg-kick, a hard fastball, a change-up, and a knee-buckling curve one typically would not expect of the big bat hitting fifth in the lineup and fielding third.

And after keeping hometown eyes distracted while his teammates took their turns at-bat, Wilson got his first opportunity to prove to them that he was the real deal.

With no outs and a man on second in the eighth—a 2-0 Harvard lead just whittled down to one—the freshman made the short walk from third base to the pitcher’s mound to relieve starter Mike Morgalis.

He fanned the first two hitters he faced, the third and fourth hitters in the Big Red lineup. And one more strikeout, a pop-up, and two fly-outs later, Cornell was on the bus ride home.

SHUTTING THE DOOR

For the freshman, it was his fourth collegiate pitching appearance and his third save in three chances, an efficient five-inning streak in which he has closed the door on three different Ivy League opponents, striking out six while allowing zero hits and zero runs.

Most importantly, in the State College, Penn. native, it appears that the Crimson at last has its answer at closer.

“There are a lot of other guys I think who could do it,” Wilson said, “but if they want to use me, I definitely like and embrace the role.”

What Harvard head coach Joe Walsh appreciates most—more, even, than the “good fastball [and the] good curveball”—is the fearless, businesslike composure the first-year maintains on the hill. It’s an attitude Wilson sustains regardless of opposing fans or runners in scoring position, like there were on Saturday.

“We’re going to use him there,” Walsh said. “He’s got some bulldog in him. There are certain things about a closer, and he doesn’t fear hitters. He just goes after people. He’s going to come in there and throw strikes.”