Varsity Nine Encounters Undefeated Holy Cross, Brandeis Mound Marvel

Harvard's baseball team nears the end of its season this weekend with games at Brandeis today and against Holy Cross here tomorrow at 2 p.m.

The contest against the Justices is a make-up of Tuesday's postponement. Harvard will be facing one of the most talked-about collegiate pitchers in the East, southpaw fastballer Fred Marden. The Brandeis star has a 4-2-1 record this season; in 58 innings he has struck out 102 batters and yielded a mere 35 hits.

The rest of the Brandeis team is pretty dismal, both offensively and defensively. There are only two .300 hitters on the squad--Marden is one--and in six Greater Boston League contests the Judges have committed 30 errors. Their record for the season is 5-7-1.

Coach Norm Shepard will probably send junior John Scott to the mound against Brandeis, and save ace Jim McCandlish to pitch against the Crusaders in Splinter Stadium.

Harvard will have to get a, superhuman performance from McCandlish to stand a chance against the Crusaders. Holy Cross has won 14 in a row this season; they have had only a couple of close calls all year. If comparative scores mean anything (and let's hope they don't) it could be a positively embarrassing afternoon for the Crimson: early in the season Harvard lost to Boston University, 1 to 0, while Holy Cross massacred the Terriers, 14 to 0. Righthander Bud Knittle will start the game for Holy Cross. Knittle has a 6-0 season record, and has pitched four three-hitters this year.