CAMBRIDGE, Mass. -- For the first time since 2005, Ivy League champion Harvard is bound for an NCAA Baseball Regional. It took 11 innings following a three-hour weather delay Sunday, but the Crimson prevailed over Columbia, 8-6, at O’Donnell Field to sweep the Ivy League Playoff Series. 
 
Harvard senior first baseman Patrick McColl proved to be the hero, plating a pair on a double down the left-field line with the bases loaded and an 0-2 count in the top of the 11th inning. 

The Crimson will learn their NCAA fate at 12 p.m. on Monday, May 27, when the NCAA Division I Baseball Selection Show airs on ESPNU. 

Columbia jumped out to a 3-0 advantage in the bottom of the first inning, behind a leadoff single to left field by junior outfielder Julian Bury. Senior shortstop Joe Engel followed that up with an RBI double to right-center, with sophomore third baseman Josh Nicoloff—on a sacrifice fly—and senior outfielder Ben Porter—on a single to left field—plating the second and third Lion runs in the frame. 

The Lions tacked on another run in the bottom of the fourth inning, with junior outfielder AJ DiFilipo scoring as senior first baseman Chandler Bengtson beat out an attempted double play by Harvard on a comebacker fielded by senior right-handed pitcher Kevin Stone. 

Senior right-handed pitcher Ethan Abrams worked five innings of one-hit baseball, but things changed in the top of the sixth. Harvard plated its first run on a Ben Skinner double down the left field line. Junior second baseman Quinn Hoffman followed with a single, before McColl sent a bomb over the batter’s eye in dead center field to knot the game at 4-4 and chase the Lion starter. 
 
Junior outfielder Skinner drove in a second run off of sophomore right-handed pitcher Tim Post in the top of the seventh, plating senior catcher Jake Allen on a single to left field to give Harvard its first lead of Game 2, 5-4. 
 
Junior outfielder Jake Suddleson scored on a wild pitch in the top of the eighth to make it 6-4 in favor of the Crimson. 
 
Columbia did not go quietly. With the based loaded on two walks and an error, sophomore right-handed pitcher Buddy Hayward turned two on a comebacker, getting the force out at home plate before doubling off Bengtson. But, junior catcher Liam McGill came through for the Lions, with a two-RBI single up the middle to tie the game at 6-6.  
 
Harvard closer Kieran Shaw sent the game to extras, striking out Columbia sophomore designated hitter Matt Cerfolio and DiFillipo to close out the ninth after walking Porter and a sacrifice bunt from sophomore second baseman Jack Chernow. 
 
Harvard will enter the NCAA field with a 27-13 mark, while Columbia concludes its year 19-23.