PRINCETON, N.J. (Interstat) — Luca Alagheband tossed five scoreless innings of two-hit ball and the Harvard Crimson erupted for eight runs in the fifth inning to defeat the Princeton Tigers 10-3 on Saturday in the first game of an Ivy League doubleheader at Bill Clarke Field.

Alagheband struck out seven and allowed only two earned runs over five innings to earn the victory, lowering his ERA in his past three outings to 0.57. The right-hander worked around a Princeton second-inning outburst that accounted for all three Tiger runs. After Jack Smith closed with four hitless innings and three strikeouts for the save, Harvard improved to 10-26 overall. Princeton fell to 14-26.

The Crimson opened the scoring in the top of the first when Jordan Kang singled with two outs, but he was caught stealing second to end the inning. Harvard’s offense went quiet until the fifth, when the game turned decisively.

Trailing 3-0 after Princeton’s two-run second inning and an unearned run in the same frame, Harvard sent 13 batters to the plate in the top of the fifth. Matthew Witkow led off with a single and G. Smith walked before Liam Wilson laced an RBI double down the left-field line, scoring Witkow and sending Smith to third. Z. Khozozian was hit by a pitch to load the bases, and T. Shulman walked to force in Smith. After a pitching change from Princeton’s Liam Kinneen to W. Sword, J. Rickheim hit a sacrifice fly to left to score Wilson. Kang then crushed a three-run homer to left-center field, clearing the bases and giving Harvard a 6-3 lead. G. Colasante singled, M. Lane reached on a pitcher’s error, and Witkow walked to reload the bases, but Smith and Wilson flied out to end the inning with Harvard ahead 8-3.

The Crimson added two more runs in the sixth. Khozozian was hit by a pitch for the second time, advanced on a sacrifice bunt by Shulman, and scored on an RBI single by Rickheim. Kang singled, and after another pitching change to Charlie Wolf, M. Lane singled to score Rickheim. Witkow then tripled to right-center, plating Lane and Kang to push the lead to 10-3.

Princeton had taken the lead in the second inning against Alagheband. B. Kaufman walked, and T. Googins followed with a two-run homer to left field. Later in the inning, I. Lamson struck out, but W. Werdesheim singled and advanced to second on an error. Jake Koonin doubled down the left-field line to drive in Werdesheim, making it 3-0. Alagheband settled after that, retiring seven of the next eight batters he faced.

Kang finished 4-for-5 with a home run and three RBIs. Witkow went 2-for-3 with two RBIs, and Wilson added two hits and an RBI. For Princeton, Googins was 2-for-4 with a home run and two RBIs. Kasey Gilman pitched two scoreless innings of relief with two strikeouts.

The victory was a sharp departure from projections. Interstat’s game simulator had forecast a 6-2 Princeton win, and Interstat’s ELO system gave the Tigers a 50.70 percent probability to win. The teams were scheduled to play the second game of the doubleheader later Saturday. Harvard’s next game is also against Princeton on Sunday.