In the doubleheader opener, Stone and freshman righty Kieran Shaw helped the Crimson pull off a 4-1 win on Saturday morning to tie the series at 1-1. The pair of young pitchers combined to hold Jacksonville to just one run over nine innings of work, with Stone getting the win and Shaw the save.
“The MO for myself and Kieran was just to compete our butts off,” Stone said. “We tried to put our team, and keep our team, in a position to win that ballgame after we scored four runs to start the game.”
The solid appearances against a quality team are big for both pitchers. They’ll look to take the positive experience back up north as the season progresses.
Sophomore outfielders Patrick Robinson and John MacLean punched in an RBI apiece for Harvard, while Bryan went 2-for-4 at the dish with a ninth-inning insurance home run. Junior John Fallon also went 2-for-4 with two runs scored.
“It was great to get down there and size ourselves up against those guys,” Stone said. “I think it showed us that we can really play with anybody, taking a game from them and being competitive in those last two games.”
JACKSONVILLE 12, HARVARD 1
Jacksonville walked all over the Crimson in the series-opening Friday night game under the lights, as the home team pounded out 14 hits and scored in each of the first five frames to make the game 10-0 before Harvard even started batting its third time through.
“It’s always pretty humbling to go down to these schools,” Ellis said. “Unfortunately, we just weren’t ready to go. We just didn’t put things together Friday night.”
Sophomore righty Simon Rosenblum-Larson took the loss for the Crimson, being pulled in the fourth after giving up six earned runs. First baseman/pitcher Matt Hink and even Fallon, an infielder, made appearances on the mound, to save the rest of the bullpen arms during the one-sided affair.
Leadoff hitter Quinn Hoffman went 2-for-4, with two stolen bases during the game, though his performance would drop off with a subsequent 0-for-11 in the next three games.
“Our coach brought us together, and we rallied around that,” Ellis said. “[We knew] we could come together and put our best foot forward the next day.”
—Staff writer Bryan Hu can be reached at bryan.hu@thecrimson.com.