Freshman Dan Moskovits sent Reynolds home on the next play, and before long, the Crimson held a commanding five-run lead.

But the Hatters kept creeping back into the game, reducing Harvard’s lead to one run with two innings to play.

After sophomore left-hander Jonah Klees held Stetson off through the eighth inning, and through two outs and two strikes in the ninth, all he had to do was pitch one last strike.

Klees did just that, inducing a swing, but the throw slipped through junior catcher Tyler Albright’s fingers, allowing the Hatter to advance to first base.

“Tyler Albright had played spectacularly all game, blowing guys out,” Crimson coach Joe Walsh said. “The ball trickled off Tyler’s glove. Now it’s two outs with the bases loaded.”

But Albright was spared punishment for his error as the next Stetson batter popped a fly ball to center, which O’Neill corralled easily.

HARVARD 9, NOTRE DAME 6

When Zach Hofeld allowed three runs in the top of the first inning, it looked to be a rough start to a new season.

“It kind of felt like games last year,” Suter said.

But by the end of the inning, the tide of the game had turned as the Crimson offense kicked off a new decade of baseball with five runs in the bottom of the first.

“We were hitting line drives all over the place,” Walsh said. “We came out hustling and getting aggressive, and next thing you know, our bats were alive.”

But replacing Hofeld with sophomore Conner Hulse couldn’t stop the offensive outpouring on both sides, and the Fighting Irish quickly tied the game back up with two runs in the second.

Hulse finally stayed Notre Dame’s bats in the top of the third, holding his opponent to one run over the next six innings.

The sophomore had seven strikeouts on the game.

“Conner did an outstanding job,” Walsh said.

And in the bottom of the third, Harvard swung itself to a three run lead from which the Fighting Irish would never be able to recover, as the Crimson stormed out to a 1-0 record for the first time since 2007.

“It was a good weekend for Crimson baseball,” Walsh said. “Offensively, defensively, pitching, I thought we played pretty well.”

—Staff writer Christina C. McClintock can be reached at ccmcclin@fas.harvard.edu.