“We’ve got enough arms that I feel good about [playing so many games in a short time period],” Walsh said. “When we go four games on the weekend and go during the week, we have to have a lot of starting pitchers.”

This is possible because Harvard has seven players that both pitch and field another position, including four of the 12 freshmen.

Though it will help this weekend—and especially when the Crimson plays 10 games in 10 days over Spring Break—having so many pitchers can make practice a bit of a pain. Walsh began a practice last week by warning all pitchers coming off of bullpen outings to take it easy during infield drills.

But the players that really feel the weight of the pitching staff are the catchers.

With the off-season transfer of junior Mickey Kropf to Vanderbilt, Mann and Lentz are the only two catchers on Harvard’s roster. So on Sundays, when the majority of the 19 pitchers throw live, each member of the tandem can spend up to four or five hours squatting.

Around the Horn

Only two days prior to their first game, the Crimson batters still haven’t hit outside. Though O’Donnell Field did host some pop-up drills last Tuesday, the team will likely depart for Bradenton, Fla., tomorrow without having had live batting practice since the fall….Harvard opened the 2002 season a dismal 3-12 record, including an opening weekend sweep at the hands of national-power Rice. The Crimson will have a good chance at a better start this year, facing weaker squads including Valparaiso, Duquesne and Indiana Purdue–Ft. Wayne this weekend to open its season.

—Staff writer Lande A. Spottswood can be reached at spottsw@fas.harvard.edu.