SPORTS of the CRIMSON

Harvard hopes for victory in the forthcoming series with Yale faded Saturday afternoon when the best pitching the Crimson could offer was not able to quell a slugging Holy Cross nine, and when the Crimson continued their season-long hitting slump against Rookie Gene O'Connell of the Crusaders.

On Southpaw Mort Waldstein's good days, the Varsity looks snappy, but on afternoons like Saturday, when he is having trouble, the outlook is far from bright. Although the Crimson only garnered five scattered hits, their fielding was good, with Jay Gleason still playing Gil Whittemore's spot at third, Red Scully in Captain Fred Keyes' position, and Burgy Ayres in right for Bill Parsons.

Beside Waldstein, the other players available for mound duties against the Elis are Jake Schwede, who took over for lefty Bud in the sixth. Saturday, Burgy Ayres, and Charlie Brackett. Schwede, although slightly wild, pitched competently against the Crusaders, rescuing himself from very tight situations twice. Once he leaded the bases with one out, but managed to finish off the next two men, and cut off any scoring that inning.

Ayres has not been as good this year as he was last, and, although he has huried one or two good games, he is likely to allow a considerable number of hits. However, on account of his hitting powers, Coach Stahi has moved him out into Bill Parsons' old spot in left field. Brackett pitched a spectacular three hit game against Tufts a few weeks back, but he hasn't had much opportunity to show his stuff since. He will probably be held as a relief moundsman for the Yale series.

If only the team could start hitting, and this consistently and hard, they would go places fast, but weakness in this department, although partly compensated by improvement in the other aspects of the game, is holding them back, and may lick them when they face the belting Bulldogs.

Bull Barnes, Jay Gleason, and Red Scully will be ready to back up the team, and are competent to do so, as they have shown in the last week when they filled in for the injured men on the squad. It looks from here as if Captain Keyes and Gil Whittemore will have to hustle to catch up with them, for the team's fielding has definitely improved this last week.

Playing short against Holy Cross, Scully turned in several sizzling fielding plays, and accounted for one of the five Harvard hits. Gleason looked better than average around third, especially considering his inexperience. He also slapped a single off the Crusader hurler.

Another improvement can be noted, beside the fielding average--that is, flashier base-running. Although the box-score only credits the Crimson with two stolen sacks, this is due to the fact that in four frames the Holy Cross hurler disposed of the Crimson one-two-three, and in only one did he face more than four batters. The two bases Saturday added to the seven against Columbia a week ago show a definite up-swing in this department.

Unless the Crimson suddenly snap out of it, and start a real hitting spurt, things look bad for the crucial Yale games, for they will have to face two of the best hurlers in the East in Ted Harrison and Captain "Smoky Joe" Wood. However, they have shown that it is possible, notably in the Columbia game, and the first tilt with Princeton, when, among a number of singles, they exploded with three triples, two doubles, and a home run.