Junior Lance Salsgiver, Harvard’s everyday right fielder and its closer at the outset of last season, may also be (re-)incorporated into the relief picture.

A highly-touted first-team All-American as a shortstop in his junior year of high school—and today the only All-American in Ivy League—Salsgiver featured a fastball in the 90’s before succumbing to arm problems due to possible overuse at Davison High. Earlier this year, he battled with a pulled muscle in his forearm which precluded him from taking the mound.

But on Sunday’s 13-8 victory over Princeton, he made his first pitching appearance in about a year, striking out two—both noticeably on that well-known heater—while allowing one hit in a scoreless ninth.

“It was great,” Salsgiver said. “I’ve had kind of a pulled muscle in my forearm I’ve been trying to get over, and haven’t been able to rest much playing every day. But it felt good, and I told coach it was about time to get up there and get an inning or two in. My arm felt pretty good, and I had command of most of my pitches.”

And is the zip on that fastball back to where it used to be?

“I feel like it’s right or close to where I’ve been,” Salsgiver said. “I wasn’t trying to throw as hard as I can—I kind of tried to ease into it. I felt like I was throwing with decent velocity, and hitting my spots.”

—Staff writer Pablo S. Torre can be reached at torre@fas.harvard.edu.