GEORGIA SOUTHERN 12, HARVARD 2 (5 innings)

Georgia Southern (12-7) scored early and often against the Crimson, putting five runs on the scoreboard in its first inning at the plate and building a 10-run lead which cut the game short at 5 innings.

Harvard’s batters struggled mightily against a dominant Dixie Raley. The freshman pitched all five innings and only gave up one earned run and four hits while striking out four.

The Eagles racked up 10 hits, including three doubles and two round-trippers. Sophomore outfielder Alexa Altchek recorded the Crimson’s only extra base hit, a double. That marked the second time in Saturday’s two games that Harvard was unable to muster more than one hit for extra bases.

“Even without the high number of extra base hits, we can still score a lot of runs as long as every batter does their job according to the situation,” Galindo said.

EASTERN KENTUCKY 7, HARVARD 6

In the Crimson’s first contest at the Eagle Classic, Harvard dropped a close decision to the Colonels in the seventh inning.

Heading into the final frame, the score was knotted at six. Captain Morgan Groom stepped into the circle for her fifth inning of relief after the Crimson had just tied the game up by pushing two runners across the plate in the bottom of the sixth.

Groom recorded two quick outs to begin the inning, but eventually Eastern Kentucky’s Rachel Minogue delivered with an RBI single to the left-center gap which plated Kayla Joyce for the go-ahead run.

In the bottom of the seventh, junior Alex Sallberg shut down the Harvard offense to preserve the lead for the Colonels. Eastern Kentucky committed four errors, and the Crimson was able to capitalize. Four of its six runs were unearned.

Harvard stranded nine runners on the day, which ties a season-high set in a win against Presbyterian in the season opener.

—Staff writer Jack Stockless can be reached at jackstockless@college.harvard.edu.