FRESHMAN NINE HAS HARD FIGHT ON HANDS AGAINST ELIS TODAY

When the Freshman baseball team meets the Eli yearlings on Soldiers Field this afternoon at 3 o'clock, it will be more than a question of a hard game for the Crimson team, unless it can show as good or better play than it was given evidence of in its best performances so far this season. Yale has one of the fastest Freshmen teams she has produced in the last few years. Its three most telling victories have been over Hill by 3-1, over Dean by 9-4, and over Princeton by 4-3. The last two results are ominous for the Crimson players, in that they were defeated by both Dean and Princeton, the scores being 4-2 and 9-8. Comparatives scores, however, cannot be trusted to show anything at all definitely.

Of the Freshmen's twelve games, six stand in the won and five in the lost column, while one, the six-inning contest with Exeter on Wednesday, resulted in a 4-4 tie. The nine started off with a long jump in the first game of the season when it smothered Groton by 14 runs to none. K. N. Hill, in the - box for the yearlings, featured, allowing no hits.

The promise of the first contest was not belied when the Freshmen met Worcester on April 28. Knocking the ball frequently for long hits and fielding with brilliance and precision, they overcame their opponents by the score of 7-4. In more ways than one the game was a forecast of the yearlings' performance throughout the coming season, for they had one bad inning in which they yielded Worcester the majority of its runs.

The third yearling victory was gained ever St. Mark's at Southboro on May 2. Both nines did most of their scoring in the first inning, when the schoolboys' errors let in three Crimson runs. K. N. Hill was again in the box for the Freshmen, and held the Southboro team to five hits. The score, 5-3 at the end of the fourth inning, remained unchanged till the end of the game.

The Freshmen, however, had shown some lax playing at Southboro, and their carelessness bore fruit when, on May 7, due to their failure to bunch their hits, and their ragged fielding in tight places, the Andover nine humbled them 5-3 in a long-drawn-out eleven-inning struggle. Not one of the school-boys' runs was earned, the last two crossing the plate as the result of a couple of costly errors.

Middlesex Victorious

Another contest that went two extra sessions was the next one-with Middlesex at Concord on May 9, which resulted in a 4-3 victory for the home nine. Although no more successful, the Freshmen played better ball than they had in the previous game. Some heady base-running by Pollard, Middlesex star, who stole home in the eleventh, brought in the winning run.

The next game, that with Cushing Academy, proved easy for the Freshmen, who were beginning to attempt to clean up their error slate, and they emerged with a 7-1 win. E. L. Gherke, pitching his second game, performed creditably, giving only two hits and leading his team at bat with two clean singles and a home run that rolled up the steps of the Stadium.

That the yearlings were an erratic team, and not ever assured of victory was proved by their 4-2 defeat at the hands of Dean on May 19. The Crimson was troubled throughout by the opposing moundsmen's delivery, and did not hit with its accustomed power.

Holy Cross Downed 4-2

Two days later, with a changed and more evenly balanced infield than they had formerly had, and with their batting power again coming to the fore, the yearlings showed their real strength, and downed the snappy Holy Cross 1924 nine by the score of 4-2. E. L. Gherke and L. C. Larrabee proved an effective battery for the yearlings.

In a totally different game from any they had played this season, the yearlings were forced to accept a 9-8 defeat from the Princeton Freshmen at the latter's home ground on May 28. The contest was peculiar in that the pitchers of both teams, formerly clever at allowing a few hits, were knocked out of the box in the sixth session. It was in this inning that the Tigers gained four runs and a lead that the Crimson was unable to overcome throughout the remainder of the contest.

Since this defeat the Freshmen have played two games, one with Huntington resulting in an easy 6-3 victory, and the short, indecisive contest with Exeter