NEW YORK — For the second straight game, Columbia Baseball (18-13, 10-2 IVY) got outstanding starting pitching, this time from
JD Ogden, as they completed the third straight Ivy League weekend sweep with a 7-3 victory over Harvard (13-16, 5-6 IVY) to win its 11th straight game and ninth straight Ivy League game in Sunday's match up at Robertson Field at Satow Stadium.
Ogden (1-2) pitched 5.2 strong innings of one run ball, giving up just four hits over the five-plus innings of work. At the plate, Columbia used timely hitting .333 with two outs, getting two out hits from
Andy Blake,
Weston Eberly and
Cole Hage. Overall, Blake and Schott both went 2-for-4 knocking in a run each, while in the leadoff spot Hage knocked in two runs of his own and drew a pair of walks.
"
JD Ogden gave us a strong start and the bullpen work from
Billy Black and
Griffin Palfrey and the defense was solid," said head coach
Brett Boretti. "The offense had a lot of productive at bats and continued to battle well."
Out of the pen, the Lions for two and a thirds of important work from
Billy Black, and in the ninth
Griffin Palfrey finished it off with a scoreless final frame of work. The Lions advanced the runners at a clip of .389 and with runners on they hit .294, putting together solid at bats all day to come away with the weekend sweep of Harvard.
HOW IT HAPPENED: Harvard opened the game by scoring first, using a leadoff single to come around and score, but the one run would be all the Crimson got to open the inning and Ogden settled in quite nicely after the opening frame. Ogden was helped by the Lions opening their day at the plate with a pair of runs to quickly take back a lead they would not return.
With one out, Blake smacked a single and then advanced on a wild pitch, following a
Tyler MacGregor single through the right side to advance Blake to third, the Lions got their opening run when MacGregor's steal attempt led to Harvard's catcher tossing the ball into center field. The error following the stolen base allowed Blake to scamper home and tie up the score.
Hayden Schott then took a 3-1 pitch to center field for an RBI double, scoring MacGregor and putting the Lions quickly on top, 2-1 after the opening frame.
Over the next four innings, Ogden was lights out, allowing just one base runner and striking out two over the three innings.
It allowed for the Lions to begin to build on their lead, and in the bottom of the fourth
Anton Lazits led things off with a single to the left side. He was knocked in on a
Joshua Solomon triple to center field to make it 3-1 Columbia.
It was still 3-1 heading into the bottom of the sixth, an inning where the Lions finally pulled away for good. It was started by a pair of Columbia walks with one out and after
Austin Mowrey advanced the runners on a ground out,
Jacob Phelps drew a a two out walk to bring to the plate a hot
Cole Hage.
On the first pitch Hage saw, he doubled down the left field line, scoring both Solomon and Lazits to make it 5-1. Phelps was then knocked in on an RBI single from Blake, and after advancing to third on Blake's RBI single, Hage came around to score on a passed ball to make it 7-1.
Harvard got two runs back in the seventh, but in the ninth Palfrey shut down the Crimson, working around a pair of two-out walks to get the final out on a ground out to Phelps at short. The win finished off another weekend where the Lions swept their Ivy League foe for the ninth straight Ivy League win.
GAME NOTES:
- Columbia has won 11 straight games …
- The 11-game winning streak is the longest since 2014 when Columbia won 15 straight from Apr. 4-25, 2014 …
- The nine-game Ivy League winning streak is the longest for the Lions since getting 12 straight in 2014 …
- Columbia becomes the first team to sweep three straight Ivy League weekends since the League went to the current format in 2018
- Columbia has outscored its Ivy League foes 111-47 over its nine-game Ivy League winning streak …
- MacGregor now has a 15-game hitting streak, which is the longest hitting streak by a Lion since Julian Bury's 19 game hitting streak from 2019-20 …
- Hage has reached base in all 29 games he has played in …
- The Lions hit .381 on the weekend as a team …
-
Hayden Schott smashed .615 with three home runs and nine RBIs over the weekend …
- Columbia got 14.2 innings of work from their starters over the weekend …
- Columbia's starters only gave up five runs all weekend …
- Columbia's pitching struck out 21 over the weekend …
UP NEXT: The Lions remain at Robertson Field at Satow Stadium when they host Marist in a midweek game, scheduled for Wednesday, Apr. 20 at 3:30 p.m. Columbia then hosts Yale over the weekend of Apr. 23-24, and on Sunday, Apr. 24, the Lions will celebrate the Class of 2022 on Senior Day.
FOLLOWING THE LIONS: Stay up to date on all things Columbia Baseball by following the Lions on Twitter (@CULionsBaseball), Instagram (@culionsbaseball) and on Facebook (@ColumbiaAthletics).
