24 CONTESTS; 20 VICTORIES

Up to the time of the present Yale series, the University baseball team has had one of the most successful seasons known in the history of the sport at Harvard. With only fair material to start with, the nine has by sound and conservative playing gone through a schedule of 24 games with but three defeats and one tie. The World's Champions Red Sox, the Army and the Navy, Princeton, Pennsylvania, Holy Cross, Dartmouth, Tufts; these are of the more important teams which have been defeated. Of the set-backs, Catholic University has since been beaten by nines inferior to the Crimson, Brown merely broke even, and Boston College has been shown in a second game not to be of the calibre to be rated above Harvard; while Virginia's tie was later in the season more than offset in a shut-out defeat at the hands of Whitney. The season to date gives the University team a record of 833, a very high mark.

The season was opened on April 10 with a game at Fenway Park with the Red Sox. Mahan and Garritt held the World's Champions to five hits, and the University took away a 1 to 0 shut-out, Abbot scoring the run on an error and two successive singles off Gregg's delivery. Rain on the following two days prevented the Bowdoin game, but on April 13 Whitney led the Crimson to a 7 to 1 victory over Maine, with the visitors booting the game away by making nine errors.

Southern Trip Brought First Defeat.

The annual Spring southern trip, which brought forth the first set-back, began on Saturday, April 15, when Mahan defeated the Army's star pitcher, Neyland, by a score of 2 to 1. Charlottesville, Va., was the next stop on the itinerary, and here the University fought out a long 2 to 2 tie with Virginia. The Navy went down to a 4 to 3 defeat with Whitney twirling, but the game was won for Harvard at the expense of losing Wyche, who tore a ligament in his ankle and has been unavailable since. Mahan met a tartar at Washington, for Catholic University found him for 11 hits and won, 11 to 8, but Harrison came back the next day and pitched Mitchell's men to a 12 to 3 score at the expense of Johns Hopkins. This victory was the first of an unbroken string of twelve, the charm being broken over a month later by Brown. The Columbia game, which if played would have cast great light on the question of the championship, was called off on account of rain. The net result of the trip was, therefore, three victories, one defeat, one tie, and one cancellation.

Maine Teams Easy.

The nine re-opened the Soldiers Field season by taking a loose game from Bates by an 11 to 3 score, with both Garritt and Cummings in the box. The team from Maine secured seven hits but made an equal number of errors. Colby proved a 4 to 2 victim, the University securing an early lead by taking two passes, two singles, and two stolen bases. Whitney allowed five hits, and kept them scattered. Vermont was next on the list, and was swamped under a 10 to 1 score, Garritt dealing out but one scant single, while his team-mates got to three of the visiting pitchers for nine hits, and successfully took advantage of seven errors. Two Southern teams next made their appearance. Georgetown was the first, and with Mahan in the box the University had an easy time of it, winning, 6 to 0, after getting a three-run start in the first inning. The tie game on the spring trip was wiped out in the following contest, for Whitney pitched shut-out ball against Virginia, while the men behind him brought in five runs with the aid of as many hits and Rixey's loss of control.

After the Virginia game, the team swung into the heavy end of its schedule. Pennsylvania, at Philadelphia on May 6, was the first big game, and Mahan faced the Quakers and registered a 4 to 0 shut-out. Brown, at Cambridge on the following Wednesday, met a like fate at the hands of Garritt, losing 6 to 0. Healy was hit freely, and the University scored steadily throughout the eight innings of its attack. Mahan came back in the box against Amherst, and won, 4 to 1. He struck out nine of the visitors, and allowed but five hits. Amherst's four errors played a heavy part in the Crimson scoring. In the following week, rain prevented the first Holy Cross contest, but at Princeton the University pulled out a 9 to 5 victory, Mahan's steady pitching again doing the trick. This game was the first of the three-cornered championship series. On May 24, the Dartmouth jinx was chased from Soldiers Field by a University victory in an 11 to 8 slugging-bee, an exhibition characterized by loose but exciting ball. Holy Cross was next shut out at Worcester, Mahan registering the 4 to 0 score, and also the last of the University's string of 12 straight victories. Garritt and Harrison were unable to hold Brown in check, and the Providence college had the pleasure of seeing an 8 to 1 atonement for the first game and for its defeat at home in 1915. Pitcher Young, of Williams, had two bad innings at the start of the game on June 1, and lost by a 2 to 0 score in a contest which was otherwise very close. On Saturday, the Tigers came to town and left after having lost the series by losing, 5 to 1 to Mahan, who struck out nine, and kept Princeton's six hits well scattered. The University touched up the delivery of Thompson and O'Kane for eight hits, and played fast and errorless ball.

Boston College Sprung Surprise.

With the Brown series even, and the Princeton series won, the team took a big slump on June 7, and lost to Boston College by a score of 3 to 1. Coach Mitchell's absence, Reed's two costly errors, and an almost complete loss of prowess at the bat were responsible, for the team played poorly, Reed's bungles figured prominently in each Boston College score, and although he was aided greatly by fast fielding, pitcher Gill let the University down with three hits. Rain cancelled the second Penn. game, but baseball followers were given a great treat on the following Tuesday, when Tufts, beaten only by Bowdoin, came to Cambridge with an experienced team which had been hitting over 300. Eleven innings of very close play was the extent of the game, and the result was Harvard, 4 to 3. Mahan went the whole distance for the Crimson, pitched winning ball, and should have won in the ninth, when Fripp sent the game to extra innings by failing to stay on third when Coolidge poled out a long sacrifice fly. O'Marra, a lefty, lasted eight innings, when he was replaced by Whittaker, who is soon to join professional ranks. The newcomer worked well until the eleventh, when with his team in a one-run lead and with two of the University batsmen safely disposed of, he let Percy triple and gave passes to the next four men who came to the plate. That ended the game and ended Tuft's claims on the intercollegiate title.

The University evened up matters with Boston College on June 16, when Whitney took the Newton men into camp by twirling a two-hit, 7 to 0 shutout. The Crimson hitters were out for revenge and got to Gill when hits meant runs. The latter, however, pitched a creditable, game, lapses in his support playing a large part in the scoring Boston College had but one chance to score, and lost it through stupid base-running.

The intercollegiate baseball title is generally an honor difficult to place, but the record of the 1916 team to date gives it an excellent claim. Individually the men are not above the average, but success of the team as a unit has been phenomenal. It is strong as an aggregation, has made a strong record, and in the Yale series will make a strong bid for the two championships that came to the University last year; the intercollegiate championship, and the supremacy in the three-cornered league of Harvard, Yale, and Princeton