And even in the bottom of the fifth inning, when two walks sandwiched a Huskies double and loaded the bases for Brown, the pitcher came through with a fastball for the inning-ending strikeout.
“That was big right there,” Walsh said. “That was a ‘By-You’ fastball, a Louisiana special right there.”
Each team struck once more to push the score to 7-3, a margin finalized when Wilson gobbled up a grounder at third base and heaved it to first for the final out. Then, Harvard players stormed the Fenway infield.
The Crimson shared the prize with UMass by technicality in 1998—the final game was rained out—but last night’s drubbing of the Huskies marked Walsh’s first out-and-out championship in 10 years of coaching.
Harvard outhit the Huskies by a 10-5 margin, outscored them 7-3, and outran them on the basepaths all night long.
Said Walsh simply, “We were able to play our game today.”
—Staff writer Rebecca A. Seesel can be reached at seesel@fas.harvard.edu.