ODDS FAVOR ELIS AS SEASON OPENS

With both the Harvard and Yale baseball squads engaged in indoor practice, and with outdoor practice dependent only on the weather, the spring sport is getting well under way. The Crimson squad has already been divided, with separate times for practice for each of the two squads. The 1928 ball-players will organize tomorrow and their first practice is scheduled for next Monday.

Advance predictions give Eli by far the best of the returning material. The seventy-odd candidates for the Blue nine will find only two positions left vacant by graduation, those of Mallory behind the bat and of Captain O'Hearn at first base. The pitching force is especially strong with Captain Pond, Ashburn, and Scott from last year's teams. Practically the entire 1927 team has reported this year.

Five Positions Open

The Crimson prospects find five positions open to new men. The graduation of Captain Jenkins, Hill, Campbell, and Gordon, with the probable loss of Cheek, who is expected to give up baseball for spring football, and of Samborski, the condition of whose throwing arm is still problematical, leaves plenty of work for Coach Mahan to fill the vacant berths. On the other hand, the 66 candidates who reported on Monday include a number of promising players who should bolster the returning veterans.

The pitching squad will have a pair of experienced hurlers in Philip Spalding '25 and J. E. Toulmin 25. They will be supported by D. G. Gasto '26, G. McN. Gates '27, and M. H. Clifford '27, among the squad which is working out daily with the pitching target in the cage. The catching position was expected to be well fortified with capable material this year, but the loss of Cheek and Samborski will throw the job open. Among the leading candidates for the job are E. L. Gehrke ocC., K. F. Nash '26, and J. J. Maher '26, captain of the Freshman team.

Hammond May Move to First

The loss of Captain Jenkins and Hill in the infield will probably be offset by the material from last year's championship Freshman team. If Captain Hammond is moved to the first base position, as has been rumored, it will leave J. E. Knowlton '26, Willard Howard '27, and either Isadore Zarakov '27 or H. E. Slayton '26 as the most likely aspirants for the three open positions. J. C. McGlone '26, Philip Keene 4 E.S., C. D. Coady '27, and W. P. Ellison '27 are other infielders who are expected to provide severe competition for the regular positions.

Gordon is the only outfielder to be lost to the 1925 nine, and the return of C. L. Todd '26, the hard-hitting regular of last year: A. G. Rogers '26, the football halfback, and G. W. Burgess '25, the hockey wing, makes the outfield prospects brighter than those of any other department. Roger Doherty '26, who was ineligible last year, and G. E. Bennett '22, heavy hitter of last year's Freshman team promise to upset early predictions.

The members of the squad who were hockey players are not expected to report for another week. Most of the other men on the so-called University squad, which numbers 28, are practicing already in the cage. The second squad regulars practice on the other three afternoons. Coach Mahan has been forced to take the early division by the lack of equipment necessary to carry along a large squad in indoor practice, and promotions and demotions from one to the other as the season progresses are expected to be numerous.