Harvard punched in 11 hits but could only push one run across the plate in a 5-1 loss to Columbia (5-15, 2-2) in the Saturday nightcap.

Junior righty Noah Zavolas got the start for the Crimson and went 7.1 innings, but a four-run sixth inning in which eight Lions stepped up to the plate did most of the damage. Zavolas also struck out five in the loss.

Harvard had runners on the bags all day long—all but two innings saw the Crimson get at least one hit—but couldn’t convert.

In the fourth inning, with the bases loaded and one out, Reid hit a line drive that went straight to the shortstop and turned into an inning-ending double play. In the eighth, with two runners on and the tying run at the plate, freshman Chad Minato was picked off at second base to end the Crimson’s threat.

COLUMBIA 2, HARVARD 0

Coming off a huge scoring outburst against Army and being shut out a week later, 2-0, by a pitching staff that sported a team ERA of 6.22, perhaps took Harvard aback and deflated the rest of its weekend.

In Saturday’s opener, the Crimson slotted emerging ace junior Ian Miller and threw out a lineup against Columbia akin to the ones that scored in the double digits against Army.

While Miller threw six innings—yet another complete game, part of an abbreviated seven-inning game—and gave up just two earned runs, the offense mustered just three hits and two walks in the loss.

Sophomore lefty Josh Simpson went the distance for the Lions as well, scattering three hits over seven innings and shutting Harvard out. The pitcher’s duel ended in the Lion’s favor after a sac fly in the first and an RBI single in the fifth gave Columbia a two-run advantage.

Miller’s 2.92 ERA is the only average under four on Harvard’s pitching staff.

—Staff writer Bryan Hu can be reached at bryan.hu@thecrimson.com.