In fact, second base remained untouched by Yale cleats until the final inning, when a leadoff double threatened Herrmann’s shutout. The Bulldog runner would later reach third—and a teammate first—on an error, and Herrmann would hit the next batter to fill the bases.

For the first time all afternoon, the fans grew nervous. One swing of the bat could tie the game Herrmann had dominated so thoroughly for six innings.

But it didn’t. Instead, with nerves of steel, Herrmann induced a high fly ball down the line that first baseman Josh Klimkiewicz snagged easily in foul territory.

Game over.

Against 21 hitters, over the course of seven innings, and in 91 pitches, Herrmann allowed just a pair of hits and a pair of walks.

That’s 13 pitches an inning, or just over four pitches per hitter.

“He’s become a strike-thrower,” Walsh said. “Every batter, it’s 0-1, 1-1. You don’t see a lot of 2-0, 3-1.”

The Yale batters didn’t see a lot of the basepaths, either—and all they saw of home plate, for that matter, was the view as they walked into the batters’ box.

But the Bulldogs saw a 6’4 righthander heaving the ball, all right. They saw Herrmann throwing it nearly as hard in the last inning as he had in the first.

They just didn’t see the pitches zooming by them.

—Staff writer Rebecca A. Seesel can be reached at seesel@fas.harvard.edu.