Baseball Team Tops M.I.T., 12-3; Neville and Lincoln Pace Rout

Almost everything went off as exchanged in the sunny little warmup at M.I.T. yesterday afternoon as the Harvard baseball team drubbed the Engineers, 12-3. George Neville paced the Crimson's 19-hit attack with five singles and Bob Lincoln hurled six almost perfect innings before tiring.

The only cloud over a generally cheerful afternoon was the failure of Tobin, Bob Welz, and Jeff Grate--who had the three highest averages until this week--to match their teammates' pace. Welz's 1-for-4 day hurt chances for the Greater Boston League batting title.

Grate in Slump

Grate's 0-for-3 was far more serious. The sophomore shortstop, who started season hitting like George Scott, has been in the throes of a slump the last weeks and was popping feebly to opposite field yesterday.

Harvard will need all the hitting it can muster today when it faces lefty Steve Grolnic and the GBL champion-apparent Northeastern at 3 p.m. in Splinter Stadium.

A hit-and-run single by Neville and a double over third base by Neil Houston were the big hits as Harvard scored solo tallies in the first and second innings.

The Crimson built the lead to 5-0 in third. Welz and Dan Hootstein beat infield bouneers, and Houston and Liebgott delivered run-scoring singles.

Harvard added four more in the fifth when Liebgott blooped a hit to center, pitcher Lincoln collected his second single of the day, and John Dockery got on via an Engineer boot. Neville lined a single. Hootstein's wind-blown pop-up escaped the M.I.T. second baseman, and Houston capped the rally with his third base knock.

Ahead by 11

Harvard went 11 runs up after six innings on the strength of a hit batsman, a double down third by Dockery. and another single by the rampaging Neville.

An eighth-inning triple by Carter Lord after Neville's final single closed the Crimson output at 12.

Lincoln, meanwhile faced only 19 bat in the first six innings, giving up a second-inning single. Two walks, two Harvard errors in the seventh gave M.I.T. three runs. Jim Sersich mopped up the final two innings, striking out three.

Boosting their batting averages along with Neville were Hootstein (3-for-4)., Houston 3-for-6), Liebgott (2-for-3), and Dockery (2-for-5).