CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – Forty-two games, including a biannual appearance at Fenway Park for the Baseball Beanpot, highlight the 2015 Harvard baseball schedule, which was released Tuesday (Oct. 22) by Bill Decker, the Joseph J. O’Donnell ’67 Head Coach for Harvard Baseball.
The Crimson will play 11 games in the comforts of O’Donnell Field on campus, after making appearances on the road at tough nonconference opponents to start the spring. The first pitch for Harvard, which finished with an improved 11-28 record (5-15 Ivy League) last season, is set for 4 p.m. on Feb. 27 when the Crimson kicks off its four-game series at Wofford in Spartanburg, South Carolina. After its series with the Terriers, Harvard makes its way south to Macon, Georgia, for a four-game stand at Mercer on March 6-8.
Historic DeLand, Florida, becomes the next destination for the Crimson as Harvard will take on Atlantic Sun foe, Stetson for four games on March 13-15. Just two days later, Harvard will meet up with a familiar face in the Sunshine State as it will play a doubleheader with UMass in Winter Haven.
Later that week, Harvard will head to Tampa from March 19-21 to wrap up its southern trek with a four-game series against Army. Last season the Crimson went 1-2 against the Black Knights in its three-game stretch, including a 5-1 win and a pair of gritty losses (3-2 and 6-4).
The grueling Ivy League schedule picks right up from there for Harvard with a weekend trip to Penn (March 28) and Columbia (March 29) to kick off the race to the Ancient Eight title game. The Crimson finally gets its chance to play in front of the home crowd on April 1 when Holy Cross pays a visit to Cambridge for a midweek showdown to start a five-game homestand. Princeton and Cornell come next for weekend series, as the Tigers make the trip on April 4 and the Lions on April 5.
Harvard gets it shot to defend its Beanpot title with a first-round matchup against UMass in Amherst on April 8 at 3 p.m. Three days later, Red Rolfe Division play gets underway as the Crimson heads to Providence to square up with Brown for a four-game series on April 11-12. A short trip to Chestnut Hill to take on BC on April 15 precedes a rivalry series with Yale at O’Donnell Field that weekend.
April 22 marks the Beanpot Second Round, where all four teams test their mettle in Fenway Park to crown the champion of the Bay State. The final series of the season begins on April 25 as Harvard travels north to Hanover, New Hampshire, to take on Dartmouth, before the Big Green repays the visit on April 26 to close out the regular season. The Ivy League championship series is schedule for May 2-3.
