The Bears beat Yale 8-5 and 15-2 Saturday, and Harvard, which entered the day a game behind Brown in the division, split its own doubleheader at Dartmouth. With a two-game lead, Brown needs only to split its doubleheader at home against Yale, or have Harvard lose another game to Dartmouth, on Sunday to wrap up the division title.
In the first game at Yale, the Bears trailed 4-2 after two innings. But in the top of the fourth, the Bears rallied for five runs, with Matt Nuzzo '09 driving in three on a bases-loaded double. Yale made it 7-5 in the fifth when Ryan Lavarnway, the league leader in batting average and home runs, clubbed his 13th home run of the year. But the Bears added an insurance run in the seventh thanks to an RBI-single from J.J. Eno '08 to restore their three-run lead. Will Weidig '10 threw six innings, giving up five runs, for the win, and closer Rob Hallberg '08 pitched the seventh for his third save of the season.
The doubleheader's second game was far less tense. Brown clobbered an overmatched Bulldogs pitching staff, scoring runs in every inning but the ninth. The Bears banged out 24 hits in the game, and three batters homered - Eno, tri-captain Devin Thomas '07 and Ryan Murphy '08. Murphy's first round-tripper of the season came on his 21st birthday.
The score was 5-2 after three innings and 12-2 after six, giving tri-captain starter Ethan Silverstein '07 plenty of breathing room as he pitched six innings for the win. Thomas and Robert Papenhause '09 each had four hits for the Bears.
This is the first time Brown has clinched at least a share of the Rolfe division title since 2002, when it fell short of making the Championship Series after losing a one-game playoff to Harvard. The Bears have not made the playoffs since the league switched to its current two-division format in 1993.
The Bears' wins yesterday also ensured that if they win the Rolfe title, they will host all three games of the Championship Series. Regardless of the outcome of Sunday's games, Brown will finish the season with better league records than both the University of Pennsylvania and Princeton, currently first and second, respectively, in the Lou Gehrig Division.
If Harvard manages to tie Brown atop the Rolfe division on Sunday, it will play Brown in a one-game playoff, probably on Wednesday. The game would be played at Brown's Murray Stadium because the Bears own the tiebreaker between the teams.
The Bears' doubleheader today against Yale begins at 1 p.m. at Murray Stadium. The team's six seniors will be honored in a ceremony before the games.
