JULIA TIERNAN/YH The Bulldogs have swung and missed at many chances at victory this season.

Humpty Dumpty hits the baseball diamond

The Bulldogs (9-22, 0-8 Ivy) are broken, and nobody knows how to fix them. Their bats and gloves aren't functioning properly, their spirits and hearts are battered, and they just can't win the games that count. A 12-7 win at Iona on Wed., Apr. 12, finally ended an eight-game losing streak, but with no Ivy wins, four games against Harvard this weekend are a daunting prospect.

"I am at a loss," coach John Stuper said after the team lost its third Ivy doubleheader. "I have no answers. If I had answers, I'd be implementing them. But we've tried everything, and nothing seems to work." It's true that Stuper has tried everything. He tried rationalizing mistakes away so players wouldn't feel responsible. Then he tried getting tough, pushing them hard and angrily to perform. Then he tried easing the pressure and telling them to have fun.

Nothing has worked. The team has lost its eight league games in increasingly embarrassing fashion. In the first game of a doubleheader against Princeton on Sat., Apr. 8, the Elis made six errors in seven innings to lose 9-0. Princeton ace Chris Young '02 held the team to just one hit. The Bulldogs looked terrified as they took the field for the second game; they made only one error this time, but lost 6-1. Pitchers Jon Levy, BR '02, and Jon Steitz, CC '02, gave up 15 hits.

Against Cornell on Mon., Apr. 10, the team was even more painful to watch than before. The Elis lost the first game, 6-3. Determined to turn it around later that day, they had a 5-2 lead in the second game until starting pitcher Craig Breslow, CC '02, started to unravel. Steitz took the mound in the eighth. A Branford, Conn., native who was drafted by the Anaheim Angels, Steitz leads the team in strikeouts with 30. He racked up two more strikeouts, but he also let loose with two walks and two wild pitches to put runners on second and third. "C'mon, kid, get us out of this!" Stuper yelled from his seat next to the dugout. But the pressure was too much, the situation too hopeless. Steitz allowed one run in the eighth, then got pulled in the ninth with two men on. Sudha Reddy, BK '00, couldn't take the pressure either. Cornell scored four in the ninth, and Yale lost 7-6—a true heartbreaker.

Baseball

Record: 9-22, 0-8 Ivy Recent Results: Lost vs. Princeton, 0-9, 1-6; lost vs. Cornell, 3-6, 6-7; won at Iona, 12-7. Coming Up: Sat., Apr. 15 vs. Harvard (doubleheader) 1 p.m. Sun., Apr. 16 vs. Harvard (doubleheader) Noon.

No part of the Bulldogs' game is very impressive, but offense is the most obvious deficiency. The team's batting average is just .268, and not a single player is hitting over .316. Against Princeton, Reddy held the Tigers hitless for four innings in the first game, but fell apart after it became obvious he wasn't getting any run support. Stuper has noticed the problem, but he doesn't know what to do. "We're just not swinging the bat well," Stuper said. In fact, the Bulldogs are swinging just fine—the problem may be in their eyes. The Elis have collected 187 strikeouts and just 91 walks.

"This is the toughest season I've ever gone through, because my expectations for this team were higher," Stuper said. "I've said it before, and I'll say it again: these are good players playing poorly." That seems to be the party line—the Bulldogs are talented, they just can't, for some reason, get it together. Asked how the team would proceed, outfielder Steve Dankof, CC '02, said, "We just have to keep working harder. There's always a way to work harder." Asked if he, personally, was working his hardest, he said, "Of course. I always give my best effort. Everyone does."

Logically, this doesn't make sense: if each player is working as hard as he possibly can, how can the team not be living up to its potential? But somehow it has shown true: the Yale baseball team is less than the sum of its parts. When they're not putting on a Three Stooges routine—dropping balls, making outrageous, off-the-bag throws—this team plays beautiful defense. Captain Tony Coyne, BK '00, has scooped up some astounding ground balls at shortstop, and he's done it with the grace of a professional athlete. He's also made 12 errors.

As pitcher Matt McCarthy, TD '02, put it, "We've got all the pieces of the puzzle. We've just got to find a way to win."

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