Shakir says his slow start at the plate was largely due to a mechanical flaw in his swing that had him popping up a lot of pitches. He first picked up on the problem in the team’s opening series at Rice but took a while to shake the habit.

The nine hole turned out to be the safest spot to iron out the kinks.

“If you’re struggling, [the ninth spot] is a good place to be because you see a lot of fastballs down there,” Mager said. “For Faiz, it may have helped take some of the pressure off so he could just be relaxed.

“Faiz was just hitting a lot of balls at people.... Everyone on the team knew Faiz was going to come around because he has such a good swing. He did on Sunday.”

Following his 3-for-5 performance in the first game of Sunday’s doubleheader, Shakir was moved up to the two-hole in the nightcap. It was just his third time this season batting second.

Was it a promotion? No more than hitting ninth is a demotion.

“Maybe on other teams it is [a demotion] to hit ninth, but not on ours,” Lopez says.

So where will Shakir hit today in Harvard’s game at Holy Cross? It may not even matter. Wherever he is, he’ll be the same catalyst as always.

And if he ends up back in the nine-hole, then pity the Crusaders’ starter. Because just as soon as he reaches the bottom of the Crimson order, his troubles are beginning all over again.