Crusader Nine Halts Varsity Streak at Eight Games, 6-5

WORCERSTER, Mass., April 27--Holy Cross pitcher Joe Liebler held the Crimson to four hits and collected three himself, as the Crusaders broke the varsity nine's eight game winning streak, 6-5, on a frostbitten Fitton Field here today.

A pair of singles, sandwiching a sacrifice, produced the deciding Holy Cross rally in the eighth, after the Crusaders had tied the game, 5-all, in the sixth. Bob Kessler, the third Crimson hurler, was charged with the defeat.

Holy Cross hammered the three Crimson pitchers for nine hits, including there three double and a 890-foot triple. Andy Ward started, and was taken out for a pinch-better in the fifth; Coach Sheppard wanted to rest his starter for the important Navy game Saturday. Lefthander Joe Bernston worked the fifth and sixth, while Kessler pitched the last two innings.

Until Bob Hastings dropped a single over the second baseman's head, Holy Cross pitchers had not allowed the Crimson a single hit in 13 2/3 consecutive innings. Last year, Renny Perry, now with Quantice, hurled a no-hit, no-run game against the varsity.

Hastings' two-out single began a four-run spurt. Ned Felton, hitting for Ward, drew a base on balls, Dick Hoffman smacked a double to right center, scoring Hastings and sending Felton to third. John Simourian was intentionally passed, to load the bases. Bill Cleary promptly stepped up and smashed a single off the third baseman's glove, driving in the tying and leading runs.

Crusader catcher Gordon Massa let a pitch get by him, to allow Simourian to tally the fourth run of the frame. The fifth inning was the first and only time the Crimson threatened. In the first, the varsity scored as unearned run on a walk to Hoffman, a sacrifice, a stolen base, and a wild throw into left by Massa.

Massa made up for his fielding misplays, however, by batting in two runs on a double and a triple. Liebler contributed two doubles and a single to the Crusader game.

Holy Cross took a 2 to 1 lead in the third on Liebler's two-bagger, Massa's long triple to right center, and Jack Stephen's first of a pair of run-scoring singles. The Crusaders added another in the fourth, and two more in the sixth, on Bernstoein's wildness. With one out and a man on third base in the eighth, Stephens lined a sharp single to left, for the winning run.

Liebler, a 6-4 right hander, used a side armed delivery to handcuff the varsity's predominantly right-handed attack. He struck out eight and walked five in gaining his first college victory.

As in most of the other games, the varsity took advantage of its opportunities, bunching three of its four hits into the fifth frame. . . .Holy Cross coach Jack Barry, a former shortstop in the Philadelphia Athletics' farmed "$100,000 infield," has not had a losing season in 33 years.

The freshman game with M.I.T. was postponed until Friday because of wet grounds. Today the Yardlings will play B.U. here at 3:45.