Four Hits For Harrison White On Saturday

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – Harrison White had four hits and Tyler Duncan pitched four scoreless relief innings on Saturday afternoon, but the Yale baseball team could not keep up with the hitting of Harvard, losing both games of the first doubleheader with the Crimson, 10-5 and 7-0.

The Bulldogs (10-21, 2-12 Ivy) found themselves in a scoring parade with Harvard in game one, unable to make-up for the Crimson's fast start off Eli starter Chris Lanham (Houston, Texas). In game two, Harvard pitcher Matt Timoney threw 7.2 scoreless innings for the Crimson, stifling the bats of the Yale offense.

"We're struggling, but we're playing hard. My guys are busting their butts," said Yale head coach John Stuper after the games. "We didn't swing it well, we didn't pitch it well, but we have to come back tomorrow battling. There's no quit in this group."

Stuper went on to add, "We're trying to figure out some things for next year, but we're still enjoying the seniors' last few games and we're going to try to win every game that's coming up."

Game 1

In what proved to be a high-scoring affair, the Bulldogs could not overcome eight runs by Harvard in the first two innings of the game, ultimately falling to the Crimson, 10-5, in game one on Saturday at O'Donnell Field.

The Bulldogs committed three key errors, while Harvard stockpiled 11 hits as part of its 10-run performance, handing junior right-hander Chris Lanham (Houston, Texas) the loss (3-5) in his complete-game effort.

Lanham pitched six innings for the Elis, allowing seven earned runs on 11 hits while striking out five. After the first two innings, the righty settled in against the Crimson lineup, allowing just two runs in the final four innings. He retired Harvard batters in order in the fourth and fifth innings.

Sophomore Harrison White (Laguna Niguel, Calif.) led the Bulldogs' offense with two hits in four at-bats, recording an RBI and run scored in the game.

Three Bulldogs had RBI singles, including senior Eric Hsieh (Laguna Niguel, Calif.), senior Joe Lubanski (Collegeville, Pa.) and junior Tom O'Neill (Baltimore, Md.). Freshman Tom Ruddy (Sparta, N.J.) contributed an RBI groundout in the second inning.

Seniors David Toups (Houston, Texas) and Green Campbell (Shreveport, La.) each added one hit in the loss. Toups also made a magnificent throw from right field, gunning down Harvard's D.J. Link at home plate while trying to tag-up from third base in the second inning.

Yale hit the scoreboard first, when Hsieh smacked a two-out single to left field, plating White from second base and giving the Bulldogs a 1-0 lead.

Harvard answered in the bottom of the first off Lanham, scoring four runs on three hits, with help from two Yale fielding errors. After three straight singles to start the game for Crimson hitters, a groundball to shortstop was misplayed by sophomore Richard Slenker (Pound Ridge, N.Y.) to extend the inning.

Later in the inning, a fielding error by Ruddy in left field scored two runs and allowed Harvard's Link to reach third base.

Down 4-1, Yale scored twice in the second inning, with Ruddy and White knocking in the runs and cutting the deficit to 4-3.

However, Harvard scored four more runs in the bottom half, extending its lead to 8-3. The Crimson had four hits in the frame, including an RBI triple by leadoff hitter, Mike Martin.

The scoring parade continued in the third, as RBI singles from Lubanski and O'Neill closed the gap to 8-5 for Yale. Harvard's Drew Reid had an RBI groundout in the bottom of the third, pushing the Crimson's lead to 9-5.

The Bulldogs didn't score another run, as Harvard reliever Nick Scahill shut down the Eli hitters for the last four innings. Scahill struck-out seven batters without a walk, picking up the win on the mound for the Crimson.

The only Yale batter to get a hit off Scahill was Campbell, who successfully bunted up the third base line in the fourth inning.

Game 2

Harvard pitcher Matt Timoney pitched 7.2 innings of scoreless baseball against the Bulldogs, scattering just six hits and striking out seven in the 7-0 loss to the Crimson in game two on Saturday.

White led the Elis with two hits, while four other Bulldogs contributed a hit apiece in the loss. Senior Robert Baldwin (Austin, Texas) recorded the first hit of the game for Yale, which didn't come until the fifth inning off Timoney.

In a short outing for junior right-hander Chris Moates (Smithville, Ga.), he allowed six earned runs and 11 hits in 3.2 innings. The Bulldog hurler fell to 1-4 this season in his 10^th appearance.

Freshman Tyler Duncan (Newport Beach, Calif.) had his best outing of the season in relief of Moates, throwing 4.1 scoreless innings, allowing just five hits in that stretch. The first-year pitcher did not face more than five batters in an inning, showing consistency in his outing.

In two games on Saturday, the Harvard offense produced 17 runs and 27 hits, making Duncan's appearance that much more impressive that he was able to contain the Crimson bats.

For the second straight game, the Crimson struck hard in the first two innings, scoring three runs in each frame to take a 6-0 lead over the Bulldogs.

A two-out rally by Harvard in the first inning was highlighted by a two-run double by Austin Black, putting the Bulldogs behind, 2-0. A two-RBI single by Drew Reid in the second inning made it 5-0. Reid was 3-for-5 with two RBI and two runs scored in the contest.

The Bulldogs stranded six base runners in the game, unable to score off Timoney. After back-to-back singles by Campbell and White in the sixth inning, Slenker hit into a 4-6-3 double play to end the inning. Two more runners were stranded in the eighth after singles by junior Nate Adams (St. Louis, Mo.) and White.

Campbell, Baldwin and Lubanski each had a hit in the game for the Bulldogs. For Campbell, he has now recorded a hit in 11 of the last 12 games.

Yale returns to action on Sunday for another doubleheader at O'Donnell Field against Harvard, beginning at 12 p.m. Game action can be followed on live stats, @YaleBaseball on Twitter, or watched via live stream on the Ivy League Digital Network.

Filed by Steve Lewis, Yale Sports Publicity