Blog Single

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – Harvard University baseball hosts UMass Lowell on Tuesday, Apr. 23 at 3:00 p.m. at O’Donnell Field in a game broadcast across NESN, NESN+, and ESPN+ with the Crimson having won seven of its last 10 games, including back-to-back series wins, entering the contest.

What to Know

• The Crimson (11-21, 7-8 Ivy) meets the River Hawks (16-21, 7-7 America East) with Harvard having won seven of its last 10 games, including a 6-2 mark in its last eight contests. The Crimson currently stands in a tie for fourth place in the Ivy League standings.
• Harvard is set to start LHP Brian Dowling (1-2, 10.49) while UMass Lowell is set to counter with LHP Brendan Holland (0-0, 4.64 ERA).
• The two teams will meet on the diamond for the fifth time with the Crimson holding a 3-1 lead in the all-time series.
• The Crimson won its second straight conference series with a 2-1 series win over Dartmouth (Apr. 20-21) behind a 9-2 win in game one and a 13-5 victory in game three. Junior William Lybrook tallied three home runs and seven RBIs in the series while senior Jake Berger hit .500 (6-for-12). As a team, Harvard hit .333 in the series, while the Crimson’s pitching staff limited the Big Green to a .230 opponent average.
• Harvard posted season highs in runs (17), RBIs (17), and hits (19) in its 17-14 win over Stonehill (Apr. 16). Seniors Peter Messervy (five RBIs) and Jake Berger (four RBIs) combined for nine RBIs in the game as the Crimson plated six runs in the top of the ninth to take the victory.
• The Crimson took a 2-1 series win over Princeton (Apr. 13-14) behind a 3-2 win in game one and 14-2 victory in game three. For the series, Harvard’s pitching staff registered a 2.70 ERA, including ERAs under 2.00 from sophomore Callan Fang (0.00 ERA, 7.0 IP, eight strikeouts), junior Sean Matson (1.29 ERA, 7.0 IP, 12 strikeouts), and first-year Truman Pauley (1.69 ERA, 5.1 IP, six strikeouts).
• A margin of three runs or fewer has decided 10 of Harvard’s 15 Ivy League games, including six one-run games.
• Senior outfielder Ben Rounds has posted a .400 average, .507 OBP, six home runs, 23 RBIs, 48 hits, 38 runs, and 11 doubles on the season. He ranks first first in the Ivy League in average (.400), OBP (.507), and hits (48), second in walks (25), third in runs (38), fourth in OPS (1.165) and doubles (11), fifth in slugging (.658), and eighth in home runs (six). In the NCAA, he stands 30^th in average (.400) and 38^th in OBP (.507). In Ivy only play, he has hit .382 with 19 hits, 11 RBIs, five doubles, a .493 OBP, and four home runs, while ranking fourth in the league in slugging (.727), OBP (.493), OPS (1.220), and runs (19) and fifth in average (.382) and homers (four). For the season, he has posted 15 multi-hit games.
• Senior Jake Berger – currently on a 10-game hit streak – has tallied a .314 average, 26 runs, 37 hits, six doubles, and a .384 OBP on the year. In Ivy play, he has hit .315 with 14 runs, 17 hits, and seven RBIs. He went 4-for-5 with four RBIs and four runs at Stonehill (Apr. 16) before hitting .500 (6-for-12) in the Dartmouth series (Apr. 20-21). Berger has posted 10 multi-hit games on the year.
• Junior George Cooper – currently on a 14-game hit streak – has hit .297 on the season with 38 hits, 18 RBIs, 20 runs, four doubles, and three triples. He leads the Ivy League in triples (three). In Ivy only play, he has posted a .348 average, 24 hits, 11 RBIs, 10 runs, and a .375 OBP, ranking second in the league in hits (24). For the season, he has tallied 13 multi-hit games and seven multi-RBI games.
• Junior catcher William Lybrook has posted a .356 average with 26 hits, 20 RBIs, 22 runs, and a .424 OBP. He ranks fourth in the conference in average (.356), eighth in OPS (1.054), and ninth in slugging (.630). In Ivy only play, he has notched a .362 average with a .446 OBP, 17 hits, 18 runs, 11 RBIs, and three home runs, while ranking fifth in runs (18), eighth in average (.362), eighth in OPS (1.084), and 10^th in slugging (.638). Lybrook hit a home run in each game of the Dartmouth series (Apr. 20-21). He went 2-for-3 with four RBIs, three runs, and a home run in game two vs. Western Carolina (Mar. 16).
• Junior outfielder Matt Giberti has notched a .271 average on the year with a .347 OBP and 18-for-19 mark on stolen base attempts. He leads the Ivy League in stolen bases (18) and ranks eighth in the NCAA in stolen bases per game (0.69). Giberti earned Ivy League Player of the Week after hitting .556 (5-for-9) with four runs, three doubles, and a .636 OBP in the Penn State series (Mar. 8-10).
• Senior infielder Chris Snopek leads the team in home runs (six) and RBIs (30) on the year with a .230 average, 28 hits, and 20 runs. Snopek ranks seventh in the Ivy League in RBIs (30) and eighth in home runs (six). For the season, he has posted seven multi-RBI games and eight multi-hit games. He went 5-for-13 with three runs and a home run in The Citadel (Mar. 2-3) series. Snopek finished 3-for-5 with two homers and four RBIs in game two at Western Carolina (Mar. 16) and tallied a season-high five RBIs in back-to-back games vs. Brown (Mar. 31) and Boston College (Apr. 2).
• Junior right-hander Sean Matson has posted a 3.20 ERA with 58 strikeouts over 50.2 innings on the year. He ranks second in the Ivy League in ERA (3.20), third in opponent average (.226) and strikeouts looking (17), fourth in strikeouts (58), and sixth in innings (50.2). In Ivy only play, he has notched a 3.10 ERA with 36 strikeouts over 29.0 innings, ranking third in strikeouts looking (12) and fifth in ERA (3.10). Matson tallied a career-high 12 strikeouts, while allowing one run over 7.0 innings at Princeton (Apr. 13). He earned Ivy League Pitcher of the Week on Mar. 4 after throwing 6.1 scoreless innings with seven strikeouts at The Citadel (Mar. 2).
• Sophomore right-hander Callan Fang leads the Ivy League in strikeouts (73) and strikeouts looking (19), while ranking second in innings (54.1), fifth in ERA (4.64), and fifth in opponent average (.234). During Ivy only play, he has registered a 2.38 ERA with 49 strikeouts over 34.0 innings, ranking first in the conference in strikeouts (49), first in strikeouts looking (13), second in ERA (2.38), third in innings (34.0), and fourth in opponent average (.180). In the NCAA, he ranks 21^st in strikeout-to-walk ratio (6.08), 31^st in strikeouts (73), and 44^th in strikeouts per nine (12.09).
• Fang has earned Ivy League Pitcher of the Week twice during Ivy League play. He captured the award on Apr. 1 after compiling a career-high 12 strikeouts over 7.0 innings in the win over Brown (Mar. 30) and won again on Apr. 15 after throwing 7.0 scoreless innings in a victory over Princeton (Apr. 14). He tallied another 12 strikeouts in game three at Cornell (Apr. 7) and notched 11 strikeouts against Dartmouth (Apr. 21). Fang has also contributed at the plate, hitting .324 with 12 hits, six RBIs, five runs, and a home run.
• Junior right-hander Cole Cleary has posted a 2.92 ERA with 13 strikeouts over 12.1 innings in Ivy League play. He earned his first collegiate save in game two vs. Cornell (Apr. 7) and picked up another save with a career-high five strikeouts vs. Princeton (Apr. 13). Overall, he has notched a 6.20 ERA with two saves and 19 strikeouts over 20.1 innings. Cleary ranks fifth in the conference in saves (two).
• As a team, Harvard ranks second in opponent average (.258), third in ERA (7.10), and third in strikeouts (264) on the mound, while standing third in average (.281), runs (210), hits (317), RBIs (190), and stolen bases (42-for-49) at the plate.
• In Ivy only play, the Crimson ranks second in ERA (4.95), second in opponent average (.250), and third in strikeouts (137) on the mound, while standing third in average (.283), slugging (.427), and stolen bases (21-for-26) at the plate.
• For the season, Harvard has posted double-figure runs seven times and double-figure hits 17 times. 

Up Next

Harvard hosts Penn in a three-game series with a doubleheader on Saturday, Apr. 27 at 11:30 a.m. (ESPN+) and a single game on Sunday, Apr. 28 at noon (ESPN+).