Harvard University’s baseball team is set to face Liberty University in a three-game series from March 6 to 8 at Worthington Field at Liberty Baseball Stadium in Lynchburg, Virginia. This matchup marks the third weekend of the Crimson’s 2026 season and will be broadcast on ESPN+.
The schedule begins with the first game on Friday, March 6 at 4:00 p.m., followed by the second game on Saturday, March 7 at 4:00 p.m., and concludes with the third game on Sunday, March 8 at noon. The series represents the first meeting between Harvard and Liberty on the baseball field.
Harvard’s pitching rotation for the weekend includes right-handed pitcher Gio Colasante starting in game one, left-handed pitcher Luca Alagheband in game two, and right-handed pitcher Andrew Abler in game three. Liberty plans to start Ben Blair, Jaxon Lucas, and Bradley Zayac for each respective game.
Senior infielder and right-handed pitcher Gio Colasante is featured on the John Olerud Two-Way Player of the Year Award Watch List. He currently holds a .318 batting average this season with two home runs and seven RBIs. Within Ivy League rankings, he is second in home runs (two), second in RBIs (seven), fourth in slugging percentage (.591), and fourth in OPS (1.014).
First-year infielder Matthew Witkow has started his collegiate career with a .353 batting average and a .522 on-base percentage. In Ivy League statistics, he ranks third in OBP (.522), sixth in OPS (.993), and seventh in batting average (.353).
Sophomore left-handed pitcher Luca Alagheband enters this series with a 2.45 ERA over 11 innings pitched, recording nine strikeouts so far this season. Nationally within NCAA Division I, he ranks among leaders for WHIP (0.64) and hits allowed per nine innings (4.09). In Ivy League metrics, he stands third for ERA (2.45), opponent average (.135), and innings pitched (11). During his recent outing against Rice on February 28, Alagheband delivered six shutout innings with seven strikeouts.
In their opening series against Tulane earlier this season, Harvard hit .293 as a team with notable performances from Ryan Mooney (.500 average), Matthew Witkow (.444), Jordan Kang (.400 average; four RBIs), Liam Wilson (.400; two doubles), and Gio Colasante (.364; five RBIs including a grand slam).
The Crimson begin their campaign playing their first 20 games away from home—this road stretch covers matchups against Tulane, Rice, Liberty, California Baptist as well as conference contests versus Columbia and Cornell along with an additional road game at Holy Cross.
According to the Ivy League Baseball Preseason Poll for 2026, Harvard was projected to finish fourth out of eight teams after receiving 73 points. Columbia led predictions followed by Yale and Penn occupying top spots while Princeton, Cornell, Dartmouth, and Brown rounded out lower rankings.
Returning players contributing significantly from last season include senior Gio Colasante who posted a .314 average with ten home runs and thirty-three RBIs; junior Tyler Shulman who had twenty RBIs; junior Jack Rickheim who tallied twenty-four RBIs across forty-three hits; along with pitchers like Ryan McHugh who led last year’s team with four saves.
Following this weekend’s games at Liberty University, Harvard will travel to Riverside, California for a four-game series against California Baptist from March 13-16.
