HARD HITTING BOOSTS BATTING AVERAGES TO MARGIN OF .300 CIRCLE

Sixteen hits lined out against Wesleyan last Tuesday offset the weaker stick-work in the New Hampshire and Brown games, and wiped out the one point margin that last week separated the Crimson nine from the select group of .300 hitters. From .299 the aggregate has been raised to precisely the .300 berth. At this time last season the team batting mark was set at a lowly .250.

G. E. Donaghy '29, though his average suffered a serious drop, still leads the regular clouters with a mark of an even .400. Henry Chauncey '27, his nearest rival, rose rapidly during the week, his drives including a home run off Slayton of New Hampshire, and with his .383 average now threatens the leadership of the sophomore shortstop.

Uliman and Jones Gain

William Ullman '27 and W. B. Jones '28 are two regulars who have bettered their last week's marks. Ullman has risen from .326 to .345 and his figures are menaced by Jones, who advanced from an even .300 to .333. H. W. Burns '28 and W. W. Lord '27 were among the Crimson batsmen who found the hurling of Slayton and Billings of a mystifying order, and whose averages shrunk, Burns's from .317 to .300, and Lord's from .240 to .311.

Although he added only one stolen base to his total during the week, Burns is still far out in front in the base-running figures, with 24 purloined hassocks chalked beside his name. Jones, with six stolen sacks, is his closest competitor in the line of predatory base running.

Lord and Chauncey Clean Up

Lord and Chauncey have each smashed out eight drives for extra bases, the former leading in three-baggers, and the latter in doubles and in circuit drives. Lord's total of five three-ply wallops is far ahead of the field, while Chauncey's latest home run broke his tie with Lord for the slugging crown, and swelled his total to three hits for the round trip of the bases.

Fielding Figures Fall.

With the mounting of the batting figures, the fielding averages show a five point decline from last week's mark of .968, but still contrasts favorably with the .932 credited to Coach Mitchell's nine at the close of the first week in May, 1926. Jones kept up his streak of faultless fielding in the outer gardens, while Donaghy, at short, maintained his commanding position among the guardians of the inner ring with a .969 average to his credit.

J. P. Chase '28, who left the substitutes' bench to fill in at third base in the Wesleyan engagement, and who roamed the purliens of left field at Providence in place of Lord, shifted to the infield, batted and fielded in stellar style, and having face the pitcher only 20 times, is the possessor of a .350 average, while he has yet to be guilty of his initial bobble in the field, after accepting 18 chances. He has proved himself a slugger of parts, having included a double and a triple in the seven hits he has landed off hostile deliveries.