CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – Harvard University baseball continues its spring break trip when it plays at East Tennessee State University on Wednesday, Mar. 13 at 3:00 p.m. (ESPN+) at Thomas Stadium in Johnson City, Tennessee, coming off a 6-5 win over Penn State in the series finale. 

What to Know

• The Crimson (2-7, 0-0 Ivy) meets the Buccaneers (11-4, 0-0 SoCon) in its first mid-week clash of the season. Harvard faces off with an opponent from the Southern Conference for the second time this season following its three-game set at The Citadel.
• First-year right-handed pitcher Truman Pauley (0-0, 7.20 ERA) is set to start on the mound for the Crimson. ETSU will counter with RHP Carter Fink (2-0, 3.46 ERA).
• Harvard and ETSU will meet for the first time on Wednesday.
• The Crimson earned a win over a Power-Five conference opponent for the third straight season with its 6-5 victory over Penn State (Mar. 10). Harvard also tallied wins over both Miami and UCLA in 2022 before topping Pittsburgh in 2023.
• Senior designated hitter Ben Rounds has posted a .412 average, a .500 OBP, 14, and 10 runs hits on the season. Rounds has hit safely in all nine of the Crimson's games to start the year. He ranks second in the Ivy League in runs (10), fourth in average (.412), fourth in OBP (.500), fifth in hits (14), fifth in doubles (three), sixth in OPS (1.088) and 10^th in slugging (.588). He hit .556 (5-for-9) in the team's opening weekend at Troy (Feb. 23-25).
• Junior outfielder Matt Giberti has notched a .438 average on the year with a .526 OBP and a 5-for-5 mark on stolen base attempts. He leads the Ivy League in stolen bases (five) and ranks second in OBP (.526), third in average (.438), third in doubles (four), third in OPS (1.214), and sixth in slugging (.688). In the NCAA rankings, he stands 42^nd in stolen bases per game (0.62) and 47^th in doubles per game (0.50). 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 has hit .273 on the year with a .368 OBP, nine hits, and four RBIs. He went 5-for-13 with three runs and a home run in The Citadel (Mar. 2-3) series.
• Junior right-hander Sean Matson has posted a 2.39 ERA with 19 strikeouts over 15.2 innings on the year. He leads the Ivy League in strikeouts (19) and opponent batting average (.148), while ranking third in ERA (2.30). In the NCAA rankings, he stands 26^th in hits allowed per nine innings (4.60). 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 (19) and ranks fourth in innings pitched (16.1). He has tallied a career-high seven strikeouts in each of his last two starts – at The Citadel (Mar. 3) and vs. Penn State (Mar. 10).
• Coming out of the bullpen, first-year right-hander Andrew Abler has tallied a 5.19 ERA with nine strikeouts over 8.2 innings on the season. He threw 4.0 innings of relief against Troy (Feb. 23), permitting one run on one hit with four strikeouts.
• As a team, Harvard ranks first in the Ivy League in opponent batting average (.255) and second in strikeouts (69) and ERA (7.00) as a pitching staff. At the plate, the Crimson ranks second in doubles (14) and fewest strikeouts (63) in the Ancient Eight. In the NCAA, Harvard sits 78^th in double plays per game (0.78) and 87^th in hits allowed per nine innings (8.59).
• Harvard plays its first 17 games of the season on the road. The Crimson makes four trips to the South, facing Troy (Feb. 23-25), The Citadel (Mar. 1-3), Penn State in Cary, North Carolina (Mar. 8-10), ETSU (Mar. 13), and Western Carolina (Mar. 15-17) before returning to the Northeast for road contests at Columbia (Mar. 23-24) and Holy Cross (Mar. 26). The Crimson will play its first home games vs. Brown (Mar. 30-31).
• Harvard was selected to finish third in the 2024 Ivy League Baseball Preseason Media Poll. The Crimson totaled 97 points to land in the top half of the eight-team poll. Penn took the top spot with 128 points and 16 first-place votes. Columbia (101 points) and Princeton (87 points) claimed the second and fourth spots respectively. Yale (66 points), Cornell (37), Brown (35), and Dartmouth (25) rounded out the fifth through eighth spots in the poll. 

Up Next

Harvard plays a three-game series at Western Carolina from Mar. 15-17 (ESPN+) with game one on Mar. 15 at 4:00 p.m., game two on Mar. 16 at 2:00 p.m., and game three on Mar. 17 at 11:00 a.m.