“We know that we’re going to score eventually.” Morgalis said. “I knew that as long as I kept it close, we’d have a shot at the end.”

Harvard won, 6-5.

Then on Sunday, after a tough loss to Yale ace Josh Sowers—arguably the league’s best pitcher—the Crimson clawed its way to a win in Game 4.

You want clutch?

How about Morgan Brown—the under-appreciated rock of the Crimson infield—dropping down a perfect squeeze bunt with Harvard trailing 5-4 in the sixth, good enough to not only tie the game but also to reach base safely with a single?

How about the next hitter, Byrne—a guy who got pinch hit for in his first at-bat last weekend—driving in the go-ahead run with a single of his own?

How about Ian Wallace—the senior shortstop-turned-left fielder who was bumped from the travel roster earlier in the season—bringing home two more runs with his second double and fourth hit of the day?

“I’ve always been better with fastball hitting,” Wallace said, his average up to .344. “And I love hard fastballs, because it doesn’t give you time to think of what you’re doing up there.”

With the lone—and gorgeous—exception of Mann’s heroics on Saturday, the Crimson hasn’t been winning Ivy games with its sluggers. But it’s been finding ways to win.

That’s exactly what Harvard couldn’t do last year, when a four-game swing through New Haven yielded only a single victory. With Trey Hendricks ’04 out with back spasms and the Bulldog staff sharp, the Crimson couldn’t find a way to win.

It’s found plenty of ways this season.

Now, with only two weekends remaining and Brown (16-13, 8-2 Ivy) a day of make-up games away from a first-place tie, Harvard’s going to have to find a few more.

The single season home run king, Farkes, is just starting to get healthy. Mann, who has been known to get warm with the weather, is just starting to find his swing. Those two combined for 25 homers last year.

“We’re still not putting it together with the hitting, the pitching and the defense,” Walsh said. “But we’re getting close.”

And just in time. The playoffs start this weekend in Providence.

—Staff writer Lande A. Spottswood can be reached at spottsw@fas.harvard.edu.