April 12, 2008
NEW HAVEN, Conn.--The Yale baseball team (14-17-1, 6-3-1 Ivy) extended its winning streak to four straight with a 6-1 victory over Harvard (3-24, 2-8 Ivy) in the first game of a doubleheader at Yale Field on Saturday afternoon. The Crimson came back to post a 12-2 victory in the nightcap.
Yale pulled in front early in game one, building a 5-0 lead after two innings. Leadoff man Josh Cox got things started with an infield single in the bottom of the first. The Bulldogs went in front 1-0 when Cox scored on Stefan Schropp's two-out RBI single to left center.
The Bulldogs then put up a four-spot in the bottom of the second. Jake Doyle, Andrew Kolmar and Andy Megee all singled to start the inning, with Megee's base hit knocking in Doyle. The runners moved to second and third on Gant Elmore's sacrifice bunt. With two down, P.J. Gorynski drove in a run with a single to no-man's land in between the pitcher and first baseman. Ryan Lavarnway followed with a two-run double to the gap in left center that made it 5-0.
That was more than Brian Irving needed. Irving gave up a solo home run to Dillon O'Neill in the top of the third, but that was the only run he would allow. Irving (3-2) tossed six innings, giving up just four hits while striking out seven and walking one to earn his team-leading third victory of the season.
Yale added another run on Cox's RBI single in the bottom of the sixth before John Henry Davis came in to pitch the top of the seventh. Davis gave up a hit, struck out two and snared a line drive by Matt Rogers for the final out, securing a 6-1 victory.
The Bulldogs had 11 hits as a team, with Cox, Lavarnway, Schropp and Doyle each collecting two. Lavarnway added two RBIs, while Doyle scored twice.
Max Warren (0-3) took the loss for Harvard after giving up six runs and 10 hits while striking out three and walking one in 5.2 innings. Ben Sestanovich finished up on the mound for the Crimson. Harvard's five hits were by five different players.
Rain delayed the start of game two by about 20 minutes. Once the game got underway, Harvard immediately jumped on Yale starter Brandon Josselyn. The Crimson scored three unearned runs in the top of the first, and Josselyn was in almost constant trouble. Harvard loaded the bases with one out in the second, but Matt Vance grounded into a double play to end the inning. Josselyn left the bases loaded again in the fourth and was taken out after surrendering a two-run homer to Matt Kramer in the top of the fifth.
Yale got a run in the bottom of the fourth when the first three batters of the inning all reached base. Schropp doubled, then Doyle singled and Kolmar belted an RBI double. Davis Stanley then hit a chopper back to the mound and Doyle was caught too far off third base. Megee and Elmore both flied out to end the inning.
The Bulldogs added another run in the bottom of the fifth when Cox smacked a leadoff single, then scored on Lavarnway's RBI single. However, Schropp grounded into a double play to end the threat.
The Bulldogs ran themselves out of an inning again in the sixth. Kolmar walked with one out, then was doubled-up at first on Andrew Moore's fly ball to center. Following that double play, Yale had just one base runner over the final three innings. Doyle walked in the ninth, but was erased when Chris Sweeney grounded into a double play, the third turned by Harvard in the game.
Yale's run in the fifth cut Harvard's lead to 6-2, but the Crimson pulled away with two runs in the seventh and four more in the ninth.
Schropp extended his hitting streak to eight games with a 2-for-4 effort. He was the only Bulldog with a multi-hit game, as Yale belted seven hits as a team. Josselyn (1-5) gave up six runs (four earned) and 11 hits in 4.1 innings. He also struck out three and walked two. Matthew Smith gave up one run and three hits in two innings of relief. Chris Walsh tossed 1.2 innings before Joe Castaldi finished up on the mound.
Harvard scored a season-high 12 runs and belted a season-high 22 hits. O'Neill and Taylor Meehan, the top two hitters in the Crimson lineup, went a combined 10-for-11 with four runs scored and three RBIs. Sean O'Hara went 3-for-6 at the plate, while Vance and Kramer each drove in two runs. Dan Zailskas started for the Crimson and lasted 4.1 innings. He gave up two runs (one earned) and seven hits and struck out one. Dan Berardo (1-0) didn't give up a hit and walked two in 4.2 innings of scoreless relief to earn the win.
The split, coupled with Dartmouth's split at Brown leaves the Bulldogs 1.5 games behind the first-place Big Green (15-10, 8-2 Ivy) in the Rolfe Division. Yale takes on Dartmouth in a four-game series next weekend in Hanover, but first the Bulldogs and Crimson face off in another doubleheader on Sunday afternoon. Chris Finneran and Alex Christ will pitch for Yale, while Shawn Haviland and Brad Unger are Harvard's probable starters. The first pitch of game one is scheduled for 12 p.m. Both contests can be heard on WYBC-AM 1340.
Report filed by Joe Clifford, Yale Sports Publicity