Nine Clinches Tie for League Title With Wins Over Cornell, Quakers

The varsity baseball team clinched a tie for the Eastern League title by winning Friday and Saturday while Dartmouth's second-place Indians were losing to Columbia.

Friday's 4-2 win over Cornell and Saturday's 10-3 romp at Penn gave the Crimson a 7-0 record in league play with two games left. Only Dartmouth (4-2) and Army (4-2) have a chance to catch the team.

So Harvard goes into Tuesday's showdown game at Dartmouth with a chance to clinch its first league championship since 1957. Furthermore, wins over Dartmouth and Yale would make Harvard one of only three teams's in the League's 35-year history to go through an entire season unbeaten.

Del Rossi to Pitch

The Crimson has to be the favorite against both Dartmouth and Yale since Paul Del Rossi will pitch both games. Del made his League record 4-0 with a six-hitter against Cornell. He has pitched four complete games and two shutouts in League play.

His start Friday was a bit rocky; Cornell jumped off to a first-inning lead on a walk, a single, and a sacrifice fly. But after Ray Ratkowski had set down the Crimson for four innings, the team broke it up.

With Gary Miller on first and one out. Tom Bilodeau singled. He was forced by John Dockery as Miller went to third. On the next pitch. Dockery stole second and Miller headed for the plate. The throw from second got away from the Cornell backstop and Miller scored Bob St. George singled in Dockery and Harvard had a 2-run lead.

The Crimson iced it in the ninth when Miller doubled and scored while Dockery was getting on on a two-base error. St. George's double scored Dockery.

Penn hammered Andy Luther for six hits in three innings Saturday, but six innings of tight relief pitching by Lee Sargent kept the Quakers under control.

By the time Luther left the game. Harvard had a four-run lead anyway. Skip Falcone led off the game with a long home run; Penn tied it up in the first, but a double, a walk, and Falcone's double made it 3-1 Harvard in the second. Four runs on three hits in the third put the game out of reach, with Miller's two-run double the key hit.