Sophomore third baseman Hunter Bigge and junior center fielder Trent Bryan were the only Crimson players who were able to collect hits against Samford freshman pitcher Samuel Strickland. Bigge went 2-for-2 with a walk and Bryan went 1-for-2, but it all went for naught as no other Harvard players reached base.
On the other hand, the Bulldogs offense banged out 12 hits and got RBIs from six different players. Most of the damage came late in the game—after holding onto a 2-0 lead through the sixth, Samford broke it wide open by posting six runs in the seventh inning against senior pitcher Garrett Rupp.
Shaw got his first start of his college career and posted a solid five-inning outing, giving up two runs, six hits, and three free passes while striking out five. The sophomore righty still, however, noted room for improvement.
“To be honest, I didn’t have my best stuff out there on the mound,” Shaw said. “It was a grind and battle day for me. I never got into that happy place where it’s just boom, boom, boom…I’m happy with where I got to, but I know that I can play way better, and I know our team can play way better in a series.”
HARVARD 5, SAMFORD 3 (15 INNINGS)
The highlight of the Crimson effort came in Friday’s nightcap, as the visitors simply outwilled the home team in a brutally long game lasting nearly seven hours.
Junior first baseman Patrick McColl, the team leader last year in RBIs, finally drove in the winning two runs in the top of the 15th inning with a double to left field. The winning hit came off of Bulldog junior pitcher Jack Rude and put Harvard in front, 5-3.
“Whatever team could stick together for the longest is the one that’s going to come out on top,” sophomore shortstop Chad Minato said. “We just really came together in a defining game for our team. I think it boosted everybody’s morale going forward.”
Bigge, also a pitcher, got the W with two innings of scoreless relief work in extras. Junior Simon Rosenblum-Larson got the no-decision but sizzled in his first start of 2018, striking out eleven in six innings and allowing no walks.
On the offensive side, the Crimson struck first in the top of the sixth, as senior second baseman Matt Rothenberg tripled home leadoff man junior Ben Skinner and sophomore right fielder Jake Suddleson. Two innings later, Suddleson hit the team’s only home run of the weekend, a solo shot down the left field line.
However, Samford was able to respond both times, knotting up the score at two and then three as the game headed to extras.
SAMFORD 6, HARVARD 5 (10 INNINGS)
Harvard held multiple late leads but was unable to bring home the W, as ninth- and tenth-inning rallies by the Bulldogs befell the Crimson in the season opener.
Rothenberg, McColl, and junior P.J. Robinson all had multiple-hit days as the 2-4 hitters for Harvard, and senior pitcher Noah Zavolas pitched went seven innings, keeping his team in the game.
A three-run eighth gave the Crimson a 4-3 lead, but Samford knotted the game up in the bottom of the ninth to force extras.
With runners on the corners and no outs in the top of the tenth, Harvard managed to drive in a run to take a 5-4 lead, but back-to-back RBI doubles gave the home team a walk-off 6-5 win in the bottom half of the tenth.
—Staff writer Bryan Hu can be reached at bryan.hu@thecrimson.com.