“I don’t think they expected us to come out as hard as we did,” Colton said. “The results weren’t really there, but we showed glimpses that we can do some things this year.”

ARIZONA 7, HARVARD 1

Harvard found itself stifled in its season opener Friday by a dominating pitching performance from Arizona right-hander Kurt Heyer and lost to the Wildcats, 7-1.

Heyer overpowered the Crimson hitters with 14 strikeouts in the complete-game victory. The Crimson did manage six hits, but the lone run Heyer allowed in his nine innings on the mound came on a solo home run by freshman outfielder Brandon Kregel.

Heyer’s Crimson counterpart, Harvard senior Brent Suter, held Arizona hitless through three innings before allowing three runs in the fourth. The Wildcats pulled away later in the game, scoring two runs each in the sixth and eighth innings off Crimson relievers senior Conner Hulse and junior Matt Doyle.

“It was a lot more competitive than the score showed,” Colton said. “We’re a pretty young team, a little inexperienced, but we’ve got some players. We totally expect to be competitive and win a lot of games. We’ve can surprise a lot of teams.”