YALE'S LATE SEASON COME-BACK

The late season development of the Yale baseball team has this year been rather remarkable. Earlier, the nine was barely able to keep its number of victories larger than its defeats, and some of the teams which gave it hard tussels were distinctly second class. Recently, however, Yale has been progressing with rapid strides as is evidenced by successive victories over Amherst, Vermont, and Tufts. These last three nines have proved stumbling blocks for teams reputed to be far stronger than Yale; and against them Yale has shown excellent team play, great batting ability, and has played almost errorless ball.

The blue team's batting prowess should cause especial disquietude in the Harvard series. As a whole, the nine is almost the equal of Harvard in this respect, and is exceedingly quick to take advantage of a weakening pitcher. While Harvard has seven men batting over 300 per cent, and Yale only two, the batter's general average is more consistent.

The team's greatest weakness is its pitching staff. It was the collapse of the pitcher in the third game last year that gave Harvard the series, and the same trouble is feared this year, though the staff has been better prepared for the final contests. Gile and Way, on whom the burden of the series, will fall, have both been showing late season form more than commensurate with the general improvement of the team. Gile is cool under fire, while Way has shown greater disposition to be erratic. Brown, Yale's mainstay last year, has not succeeded in getting into top condition, and has not been used for a month. He together with Stevens, will probably be used only in case of a pinch.

Hunter has recently replaced Mudge at catch because of his greater accuracy at throwing, but the two will divide the Harvard series. Swihart has crowded Pumpelly from first base, the latter proving deficient in the handling of batted balls. The rest of the infield is composed of veterans--Captain Blossom at shortstop, Reilly at third, and Cornish at second, who have been the backbone of the nine all season.

In the field are Middlebrook, Falsey, and Hanes, with Vaughn as substitute, and Pumpelly as a dependable hitter in pinches. One of Yale's main sources of strength is that five of its players, Blossom, Falsey, Middlebrook, Cornish and Reilly have played in every one of the twenty-five games this season. The presence of these men give the team a steadiness which it would be hard to attain otherwise.

Middlebrook is particularly valuable as a base runner and a fielder. He has over a dozen more steals to his credit than his nearest rival, averaging two a game, and in two games has managed to steal four times each. In the field, he is not credited with a single error, in spite of the fact that he covers an unusually large territory. To offset these virtues he is, however, weak at the bat.

Falsey has played errorless ball for over six weeks, and is the most reliable pinch hitter on the team. Reilly is one of the few who has recently fallen off both in fielding and batting. Captain Blossom is also in the midst of a slump, but it is an unimportant one, and he promises to leave a phenomenal record as shortstop behind him.