The Harvard baseball team fell 4-2 to Yale yesterday in New Haven, Conn., extending its losing streak to five games and putting its chances of qualifying for the Ivy League playoffs in serious jeopardy.

A lack of timely hitting spelled doom for the Crimson (15-20, 8-6 Ivy), who has now lost three of its four meetings with the Bulldogs (12-27, 3-13) this season.

Those three defeats account for Yale's only three victories in Ivy League play.

"We haven't played up to our potential at all," said junior center fielder Scott Carmack. "We're pretty much down in the dumps right now."

With the loss, the Crimson, who has won the Red Rolfe Division title for the past four years, now finds itself on the brink of elimination from postseason play.

In order to advance to the playoffs, the Crimson must win all six of its remaining Ivy League games, including four games against first-place Dartmouth. Harvard would then finish in a tie atop the division standings, forcing a one-game playoff with the Big Green for the right to play for the Ivy championship.

"Regardless of how we've been playing, we still have a mathematical chance of staying in this thing," Carmack said. "We're lucky to have that chance. All the guys know that."

Against Yale, Harvard starter Ben Crockett (3-3) lasted just 3.1 innings, surrendering four runs on eight hits before being lifted in favor of senior Derek Lennon.