But the lead could have been bigger, were it not for Suter running down a fly ball at the right-field fence in the top of the fifth, making it his second huge defensive play of the night.

“Suter’s such a great athlete,” Reynolds said. “And he really showed it there.”

But in the sixth inning, Bryant pulled even further ahead when senior Nick Campbell advanced to third on a wild pitch and then scored an unearned run off a throwing error by Novak.

While Polvani’s pitching kept the Crimson’s bats quiet, the Bulldogs steadily built their lead and made it 4-0 by the eighth inning, thanks to another Harvard throwing error, this time by junior reliever Zach Hofeld.

“Two big plays today were where our pitchers overthrew the bases, and [Bryant] wrapped up two runs,” Walsh said. “In a game like that today, you go into the late innings trailing four to nothing, versus two to nothing, and it makes you play a little differently.”

In the bottom of the eighth, it looked as if the Crimson offense might finally get on the board when junior Sean O’Hara hit a hard line drive up the center with two outs and two men on base.

But the Bulldogs’ centerfielder made a sliding catch just behind second base to get the inning’s final out.

In the ninth, both teams failed to get even a hit, and the game ended in a 5-0 victory for Bryant.

Despite the loss, Waslh was optimistic about his team’s play against the Bulldogs.

“We had some good defense and some good pitching today,” Walsh said. “But [Bryant’s] pitcher had some great stuff going on up there on the mound, and in the end, they’re just a good ball club.”

—Staff writer Madeleine Smith can be reached at smith21@college.harvard.edu.