The Harvard baseball team won its first Ivy League title since 1985 in convincing fashion, drubbing the Princeton Tigers, 22-4, in the deciding game three at O'Donnell Field on Sunday. The Crimson will now host Army (25-18-1), who won the Patriot League, in a best-of-three NCAA Play-In series today and tomorrow (May 15-16) in Cambridge.

Harvard's overall record is now 30-13, which marks the program's first 30-win season since 1974 (31-11). The Crimson reached the Ivy Championship by winning the Red Rolfe Division with an 18-2 Ivy League record. Princeton falls to 20-25 with the loss, after winning the Lou Gehrig Division last Wednesday by defeating Penn, 11-3, in a playoff tiebreaker (both finished 10-10 in the league).

The Crimson lost game one of the Ivy Championship, 2-1, Saturday but bounced back to take the second game, 4-2, and forced a deciding game three on Sunday. Harvard's bats, which produced just four hits in the loss in game one, exploded for 20 hits Sunday, including a grand slam, a three-run homer, and seven doubles. Senior captain and first baseman Peter Albers hit the grand slam in the second inning that broke the game open. Albers finished the final Ivy League contest of his career 3-for-3 with 6 RBI and 3 runs scored.

Ten Harvard batters recorded hits, led by sophomore right fielder Andrew Huling, who was 3-for-5 with 5 RBI. Junior center fielder Brian Ralph was 2-for-4 with 3 RBI and 5 runs scored, junior Aaron Kessler was 4-for-6 with two doubles, 5 runs scored, and an RBI, and sophomore catcher Jason Keck hit a three-run home run -- the first of his career.

Sophomore right-hander Donald Jamieson was tough on the hill for Harvard, scattering seven hits and three runs over 6.0 innings to improve his record to 4-2. Princeton used seven pitchers and the loss went to southpaw starter Tim Killgoar (5-4).

Today's doubleheader with Army will begin at noon, while Friday's deciding game -- if necessary -- is scheduled for 1 p.m.

Women's Softball Posts Record Winning Season

The women's softball team finished its season 32-19-1, with the most wins in the history of the program.

For the third straight year, Harvard finished second in the Ivy League with an 8-4 record, and for the first time ever, defeated Princeton, 1-0.

For the second time in the history of the program, Harvard was selected for the Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) Tournament. The Crimson finished as the tournament's runner-up, falling to Cornell, 6-3, in the championship game.

During the season, freshman shortstop Deborah Abeles shattered Harvard's record for RBI in a season (37). Junior southpaw Tasha Cupp broke Harvard's record for strikeouts in a season (182) and for strikeouts in a career (343).

Senior right fielder Melissa Kreuder led the team with a .372 batting average and hits (55). Abeles followed with a .338 average and led the team in RBI (37), runs (32), triples (6) and home runs (3).

Men's Tennis Completes Title Defense with 4-1 Victory

The Crimson men's tennis team on Sunday knocked off fourth-seeded Virginia Tech (22-6), 4-1, to complete a successful defense of its NCAA Region I title at Beren Tennis Center.

With the victory, Harvard advances to the national round of 16 as the Region I champion for the second year in a row. The NCAA Championships continue on May 17 at UCLA.

Unlike Saturday's 4-3 semifinal win against Miami, which lasted nearly six hours and required Harvard to win three straight do-or-die singles matches to prevail, Sunday's contest took less than three hours to play, and the Crimson never trailed.

Harvard went ahead, 1-0, by earning the team doubles point. The Crimson's No. 1 doubles team of Mitty Arnold and Tom Blake, ranked 20th in the nation, and the No. 2 team of Kunj Majmudar and Elliot Weiss each broke their opponents' service early in the match and preserved the cushion for victories.

Majmudar extended the lead to 2-0 by rolling over Andrew Krafft in straight sets, 6-2, 6-4, at No. 4 singles. Philip Tseng likewise rolled to victory at No. 3 for a 3-0 lead.

The clinching match occurred at No. 2 singles, where Arnold won the first set against the Hokies' Aaron Marchetti. With the score tied, 4-4, in the second set, Arnold broke Marchetti's service, then held serve in the next game for the victory.

The Hokies scored their lone team point seconds later, as the match at No. 5 ended just after Arnold clinched the team victory for Harvard.

11 Soccer Players Honored With NSCAA Academic Awards

Eleven members of the Harvard men's soccer team were honored by the National Soccer Coaches Association of America as recipients of the organization's All-Academic honors. Six players earned national All-Academic honors and five additional players earned regional accolades.

Headlining the list of honorees was senior midfielder Will Kohler, a second round draft choice of the New York/New Jersey Metro Stars and the 1996 Ivy League Player of the Year. Senior midfielder Kevin Silva and senior forward Rich Wilmot were second team selections while senior midfielder TJ Carella, junior forward Tom McLaughlin, and senior back John Vrionis made the third team.

Regional honors went to sophomore goalkeeper Jordan Dupuis, junior midfielder Ricky Le, sophomore back Andrew Lundquist, senior midfielder Jim Quagliaroli, and sophomore back Lee Williams.

Harvard recorded a 16-2 overall record, won the Ivy League title, and advanced to the second round of the NCAA championship in 1996. The 16 victories set a school record for most wins in a season.

The Crimson, coached by Steve Locker, was the nation's top ranked men's program with a 3.23 team GPA.