By completing a season sweep of Northeast Conference champion Quinnipiac, the Harvard baseball team wrapped up a round of semi-casual warm-ups against the Bobcats and launched towards the NCAA Tournament at full steam.

The Crimson (29-15) beat Quinnipiac (26-22) yesterday and today in back-to-back 11-10 victories. The Bobcats—projected recently by Baseball America as a stronger seed in the upcoming playoffs—suffered from a rash of Crimson hits and stolen bases in the losses.

Today, Harvard sophomores David Bach and freshman Matt Vance—who stole two bags each—paced the team, which swiped seven bases in as many attempts.

“We’re getting our running game back a little bit,” said Harvard coach Joe Walsh of the tune-ups. “We’re getting aggressive.”

Yet despite an outstanding day at the plate from junior shortstop Morgan Brown, who went 3-for-3 and hit his first career home run, Walsh’s outlook remained measured.

“We hit a lot of fastballs,” Walsh said. “We didn’t get that many off-speed pitches and breaking balls. We forced them into counts the last couple of days where they had to hand us fastballs.

“I feel real good if we’re hitting breaking balls,” Walsh added.

Yesterday at Quinnipiac, junior Lance Salsgiver’s ninth-inning grand slam won the game.

Today, Vance rapped his second home run of the season—a towering shot to left at O’Donnell Field—in the sixth inning. Altogether, the six-through-nine spots of the batting order went 7-for-14 today and drove in eight of the team’s accredited nine RBI.

“I feel real good about the balance in out lineup,” Walsh said. “Those guys down in the bottom of the lineup are swinging right now as good as the guys in the three and four spots. So we’ll see.”

Harvard, which clinched an automatic bid to the Division I Baseball Championship by sweeping Cornell in the Ivy Championship Series, will find out where and against whom it will open during a live selection show tomorrow, May 30, at 11:30 am. The tournament bracket will be revealed live on ESPN.

TOURNAMENT TIME

Walsh said the team eagerly awaited its fate—which belongs in the hands of the Division I Baseball selection committee.

“It’s going to be exciting, you know? It’s great to be on top,” Walsh said. “You get all the calls coming in of congratulations. We don’t care where we go.”