PROVIDENCE, R.I.—It took three weeks of draining Ivy League baseball, seven days of cruel anticipation, and a weekend of irritating rain delays before Brown finally managed to swipe a share of the Red Rolfe Division lead from the Harvard baseball team.

The Bears held it for all of 30 minutes.

In Game 1 of yesterday’s long-awaited doubleheader showdown, Brown (18-16, 10-4 Ivy) overcame Crimson slugger Josh Klimkiewicz’ dramatic 8th-inning home run, winning by a score of 6-5.

In Game 2, Harvard (20-11, 11-3 Ivy) responded by exploding Brown’s co-leader status in a hail of hits and home runs, winning 16-4.

And thus, after nearly seven hours of baseball under a chilly cloud cover, the Crimson retired to Cambridge in the same position it started—one game up in the standings.

“It’s been a long day,” Klimkiewicz laughed.

With the split, Harvard and Brown mathematically eliminated Dartmouth (12-17, 7-9), last year’s Red Rolfe champion and losers of three of four against Yale, from contention. The Crimson will again face the Bears in Providence at 1 p.m. today.

HARVARD 16, BROWN 4

In hammering Brown behind 17 hits and three home runs, Harvard managed to do its damage with uncharacteristic fairness.

Juniors Zak Farkes and Lance Salsgiver and sophomore Brendan Byrne all blasted home runs. No fewer than seven starters finished with multi-hit games.

All told, it was a pleasant performance from a lineup that has recently relied on hot-hitting individuals to produce.

“It was only a matter of time,” said Byrne, whose three-run shot in the sixth inning “opened the game,” according to Harvard coach Joe Walsh.

Added Byrne, “we’ve been kind of waiting for a major explosion like this for awhile now. And today it happened.”

Salsgiver kick-started the output by golfing a low fastball over the left-centerfield fence in the second inning. The solo shot was Salsgiver’s first home run of the season, and the team’s first hit of the game.

“Lance got us ahead,” Walsh said. “When you drop a close game like [Game 1], then fall behind in the second game, you know, momentum seems to really shift. And Lance gets the homer.”