Brayton Scuttles Navy, Batmen Play Two Today

Junior Roz Brayton took over undisputed possession of the Eastern League's E.R.A. lead yesterday by giving up only two hits and one unearned run to beat Navy, 4-1. Today Sandy Weissant and Mike O'Malley will try to give the Crimson a weekend sweep when they face Penn in a double-header that starts at 1 p.m.

Going into yesterday's game, Brayton and navy's starting pitcher, George Kerlek, were tied in the league's E.R.A. race with perfect 0.00 averages. But by the time Kerlek departed in the sixth inning for a pinchhitter, the Crimson had touched him for seven hits and the only earned runs he has given up in league games so far this season.

Harvard broke the Navy ace's perfect record in the first inning with back to back singles by Kevin Hampe and Toby Harvey, and overthrow and a fielder's choice. In the second inning, Brayton drove in what proved to be the winning run with a single after Larry Barbiaux had singled and stolen second.

Set up

Kerlek se up another Harvard run in the third when he walked Hampe and then gave him two additional bases on a pick off throw that ended up near the Crimson bull pen. Kerlek got the next two batters out on ground balls, but caption Mike Thomas came through with a broken bat single.

Thomas was the only batter with two hits in the game, and in the bottom of the sixth he greeted Navy reliever Doug Rau with a ground rule double down the left field line. Hal Smith drove Thomas across with a single for Harvard's final run.

During the early part of the game Brayton was throwing nothing but strikes, and the Midshipmen didn't a hit until the sixth, when they scored their only run.

An infield single, a walk, and a hit batter loaded the bases with one out, and the lead runner came home on a pop fly to right that landed between three Crimson fielders. The second base umpire called the batter out on the infield fly rule, and he charged the rightfielder with an error for allowing the run to score. Vince McGugan made a fine play deep in the hole for the third out to get Brayton out further trouble.

The Midshipmen maintain martial order by running everywhere they go, and yesterday they spent a lot of time running from hoe plate to the dugout as Brayton recorded thirteen strike outs, four of them coming on called third strikes.

Navy's only other hit of the game was a double in the ninth inning, and when two walks loaded the bases, Coach Loyal Park made a trip to the mound to express his concern. But Brayton struck out the next batter on three pitches to end the game.

The victory was his sixth in a row, and it brought his league record to 3-0.

"I had trouble getting loose today, and in the early innings most of my pitches were fastballs." Brayton said after the game. "In the sixth inning my shoulder tightened up while I was working from the stretch. After that I was pretty tired, and towards the end I was relying mostly on my curve."