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CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – Harvard University baseball meets Northeastern University in the championship game of The Baseball Beanpot at Fenway Park on Tuesday, Apr. 29 at 7:00 p.m. (ESPN+/NESN NATION) as the championship round returns to Fenway for the first time since 2019.

What to Know

• The Crimson (11-22, 8-9 Ivy) takes on the Huskies (33-9, 16-2 CAA) after both teams won their semifinal matchups on Apr. 1 as Harvard beat Massachusetts, 13-5, and Northeastern topped Boston College, 3-0. The Crimson enters Tuesday’s game with a 7-1 mark in its last eight contests while Northeastern has won 12 games in a row.
• Fenway Park will host The Baseball Beanpot for the first time since 2019. The college baseball doubleheader will feature Harvard and Northeastern in the championship game at 7:00 p.m. following the third-place matchup between Boston College and Massachusetts at 4:00 p.m. Fenway Park has hosted the tournament 24 times since it began in 1990.
• Harvard has won five Beanpot titles all-time including in 1991, 1998 (co), 2005, 2014, and 2018. The tournament began in 1990. The Crimson has posted a 22-38-1 record all-time in the tournament, including a 4-9 record in the championship game and a 7-10 mark against Northeastern. The Crimson is 2-0 all-time against Northeastern in the championship game with victories in 2005 and 2018.
• Harvard (8-9 Ivy) sits in a sole possession of fourth place in the Ivy League standings – one half game ahead of fifth-place Dartmouth (8-10 Ivy). Columbia (13-5), Yale (12-5), and Penn (12-6) have all already secured spots in the four-team conference tournament.
• The Crimson will start LHP Brian Dowling (1-3, 9.11 ERA) on the mound. Two of Dowling’s top career outings have come in The Baseball Beanpot. In this year’s semifinals against UMass, he threw 4.0 scoreless innings in the start, allowing no runs on two hits and four walks with three strikeouts. In the 2024 third-place game against the Minutemen, he tossed 6.0 innings in the start, permitting two runs on five hits and no walks with four strikeouts.
• Northeastern will counter with LHP Max Gitlin (5-1, 2.67 ERA).
• Harvard leads the all-time series with Northeastern, 69-49-1. Earlier this season, the Huskies swept a three-game series from the Crimson from Mar. 14-16. Prior to that, the Crimson had taken three of the last four meetings, including a 4-3 victory in the semifinals of the 2023 Baseball Beanpot.
• Since March 25, Harvard has posted an 11-6 record with the Crimson hitting .316 as a team. Six members of the Crimson have hit above .300 during that span including senior George Cooper (.414), senior William Lybrook (.409), junior Gio Colasante (.358), sophomore Tyler Shulman (.350), senior Matt Giberti (.329), and sophomore Jack Rickheim (.328). On the mound, sophomore right-hander Ryan McHugh (0.87 ERA, three saves, 10.1 innings, 10 strikeouts) and Colasante (2.75 ERA, 19.2 innings, 21 strikeouts) have tallied the team’s top ERAs during that stretch.
• Senior George Cooper has totaled 180 career hits, ranking seventh in program history. He trails only Andrew Huling (188 hits, 1996-99), Trey Hendricks (193, 2001-04), Patrick McColl (194, 2016-19), Lance Salsgiver (202, 2003-06), Mark Mager (205, 1999-2002), and Hal Carey (208, 1996-99).
• The Crimson captured a series sweep over Brown (Apr. 25, 27) with 7-4 (10 innings), 12-5, and 10-5 victories. For the series, Harvard hit .310 as a team with 29 runs, 35 hits, and 27 RBIs. The Crimson tallied double-figure hits in all three games of the series to claim its second straight series win.
• Harvard took a 2-1 series victory in the Cornell series (Apr. 19-20), behind a doubleheader sweep on Saturday, 8-5 and 9-8. For the series, the Crimson hit .384 as a team with 30 runs, 43 hits, 27 RBIs, five homers, and five doubles. The Crimson tallied double-figure hits in all three games of the series with 11 hits in game one, 14 hits in game two, and a season-high 18 hits in game three.
• Junior Gio Colasante – a member of the John Olerud Two-Way Player of the Year Award Watch List – has hit .366 in Ivy League play with 26 hits, four doubles, 14 RBIs, and four home runs. In conference play, he ranks third in the league in home runs (four), seventh in hits (26), eighth in slugging (.592), eighth in OPS (1.002), and ninth in average (.366). Overall, for the year, he has hit .314 with 38 hits, 23 runs, 22 RBIs, six doubles, and six homers. He stands sixth in the Ivy League in homers (six). As a pitcher, he has notched a 3.20 ERA in conference play with 22 strikeouts over 19.2 innings pitched. In Ivy only play, he stands fourth in ERA (3.20). For the Dartmouth series (Apr. 4-6), he went 7-for-12 (.583) with two doubles, a homer, and five RBIs as a hitter, while tossing five shutout innings as a pitcher to help him earn Ivy League Player of the Week (Apr. 7). He hit 7-for-15 (.467) in the Penn series (Mar. 22-23) with multi-hit games in all three contests.
• Senior outfielder/infielder George Cooper has tallied a team-best .349 batting average alongside 45 hits, 25 runs, nine doubles, five home runs, and a team-best 25 RBIs on the year. Cooper ranks fifth in the league in average (.349), sixth in hits (45), seventh in slugging (.550), and seventh in OPS (.962). In Ivy only play, he has hit .342 with 25 hits, five doubles, and two homers. For the Cornell series (Apr. 19-20), he hit .579 (11-for-19) with nine runs and four doubles. In game three against the Big Red (Apr. 20), he finished 4-for-5 with three RBIs, three runs, and two doubles. He hit homers in three straight games from Mar. 23-28. Cooper posted a 3-for-4 effort with a two-run homer in the win over Holy Cross (Mar. 25). In the series opener against Northeastern (Mar. 14), he went 3-for-4 with a triple and a double.
• Senior outfielder Matt Giberti has notched a .322 batting average, 38 hits, a team-best 27 runs, and a 17-for-19 effort in stolen bases. He ranks first in the Ivy League in stolen bases (17) and sixth in triples (two). In Ivy only play, he has hit .329 with 25 hits, 16 runs, and nine RBIs. In Ivy competition, he leads the league in stolen bases (10). In the win over Stonehill (Apr. 15), he went 3-for-5 with his first collegiate home run.
• Sophomore Jack Rickheim has contributed a .288 average with 34 hits, 17 RBIs, 18 runs scored, and six doubles. In Ivy play, he has hit .284 with 19 hits, 11 RBIs, and nine runs. Rickheim tallied four RBIs in Harvard’s 7-4 win over Brown (Apr. 25) in 10 innings. He notched the go-ahead RBI in the bottom of the eighth in the 14-13 win over Holy Cross (Mar. 25).
• Senior William Lybrook has hit a team-best .370 during Ivy League play with 17 hits, 12 RBIs, eight runs, and a home run. In conference play, he ranks eighth in the league in average (.370) and eighth in OBP (.456). For the Brown series (Apr. 25-27), he hit .500 (6-for-12) with four runs, two RBIs, and a .600 OBP.
• Junior right-handed pitcher Callan Fang has tallied a 3.66 ERA with 47 strikeouts over 46.2 innings on the year. Fang stands third in the league in ERA (3.66), sixth in strikeouts (47), and eighth in opponents’ batting average (.263). In Ivy only play, he ranks third in strikeouts (42), third in innings (40.0), sixth in ERA (3.83), and 10^th in opponents’ average (.261). Fang notched a career-high 12 strikeouts over 6.0 innings at Brown (Apr. 25). He tossed 7.0 innings with seven strikeouts in the win over Yale (Mar. 28) and hurled a career-high 8.0 innings with one run allowed vs. Princeton (Apr. 11). Fang won the 2024 Ivy League Pitcher of the Year award and the 2023 Ivy League Rookie of the Year award.
• Sophomore right-hander Truman Pauley has tallied 70 strikeouts over 53.0 innings pitched on the year. In the NCAA, Pauley ranks 11^th in hits allowed per nine (5.60) and 38^th in strikeouts per nine (11.89). In the Ivy League, he ranks first in games started (10), second in strikeouts (70), second in opponents’ batting average (.178), fifth in innings pitched (53.0), and 10^th in ERA (5.09). In Ivy only play, he stands second in strikeouts (48), second in opponents’ average (.157), and 10^th in ERA (4.32). Pauley brought a no-hitter into the ninth inning against Princeton (Apr. 11), tossing a career-high 8.1 innings with a career-best 12 strikeouts to earn Ivy League Pitcher of the Week (Apr. 15). He hurled 7.0 innings vs. Cornell (Apr. 19), allowing two earned runs with 10 strikeouts. He tallied double-figure strikeouts for the third straight start with 10 strikeouts in 5.0 innings at Brown (Apr. 27), while picking up a save earlier in the series (Apr. 25) against the Bears. Pauley tossed 6.0 innings in the win at Dartmouth (Apr. 4), allowing no earned runs with six strikeouts. He threw 6.2 innings with nine strikeouts, while allowing two runs at Northeastern (Mar. 15).
• Sophomore right-hander Ryan McHugh ranks third in the Ivy League in saves (three) in all games and second in saves (three) during conference play. In conference play, he has notched a 3.09 ERA with 10 strikeouts over 11.2 innings. He has tallied saves against Yale (Mar. 28), Princeton (Apr. 11), and Cornell (Apr. 19). 

Up Next

Harvard will host Columbia in a three-game Ivy League series at O’Donnell Field with a doubleheader on Saturday, May 3 starting at 11:30 a.m. (ESPN+) and a single game on Sunday, May 4 at noon (ESPN+).