Yale Whips 4 Yardling Squads in a Week, But Freshmen Finish with Winning Marks

Four freshman teams--baseball, track, Lacrosse and golf--all lost to Yale within the space of a week this season. And their narrow defeats to the Elis blotched four otherwise fine records.

Track: In the meet on May 7, the Crimson watched a chance for victory over the powerful Yale team squirm from its grasp in the final events. A hobbled Harvard squad fell in the two relays, and Yale won the contest, 33-71.

The freshman excelled in the weights, and they have all year. Charlie Ajootian's fling of 166' 11" led the Crimson to a sweep in the hammer throw. Henry Bernson took the javelin event easily, and Dick Benka won in the shot put with a toss of 50' 2 3/4"--a new freshman record.

But injuries began to take their toll in the later events. Yale shut Harvard out in the 220-yard dash and then won the triple jump and the discus. Yale's Rich Mattes led with a twirl of only 142' 3 1/2". Harvard's Bruce Hendendal was second at 140' 7 1/2" and Ajootian, who set a freshman record this year with a have of 166' 11", could only manage a third place finish.

The Crimson's Doug Hardin led the field by 10 seconds to win the 2-mile run, but the Elis had no trouble at all in the relays. They took the 440 by 1.5 seconds and the mile by a whopping 9 seconds.

The Yardlings' season closed with a 4-2 mark that included victories over Brown, Princeton, and Dartmouth, and a second-place finish in the Greater Boston Meet.

The varsity needs some hefty sophomores to back up to Ron Wilson next year, and weightmen Ajootian and Benka look like the best bets. Tom Callahan, who reeled off a record-breaking time of 2:16.3 in the 1000-yard run indoors, and Bernson, who holds the freshman spear-throwing mark, will probably also make the trip upstairs in 1967.

Baseball: The freshman nine was also clipped by Yale, 6.5, and the setback gave them an 11.2 record. The only other loss of the season was an 11.2 pasting by Northeastern's powerhouse.

The big word this year was pitching, and three freshman hurlers are definitely varsity timber. Ray Peters, a right-hander who turned down a $75,000 offer from the Mets to go to Harvard, finished up with a 2.1 mark. Peters compiled a 3.17 earned-run average with 54 strikeouts in 39 innings, making him the hottest prospect in many years.

George Lailich, the Yardlings' top pitcher with a 5.0 record, and Bob Dorwart, whose 1.53 ERA was the squad's best, should also help the varsity.

Hitting this year was a problem, but the freshman always seemed to pick up runs when they were needed. Pete Karageannes, who batted .283, and Jody Markowaki, at .302, will probably move up into the big leagues next season.

Golf: Bruce LoPucki, the freshman golf team's number one man, lost his match against Yale on May 11. It was a stunning upset, and it spurred the Elis on to a 4.3 win over Harvard. But aside from that disastrous afternoon, LoPucki has been the from man of the Crimson golf team He is a former USGA Junior semifinalist and Michigan state junior champ. Under his leadership, the Yardling golfers notched a 4.3 record this season, with a 4.3 scraping by M I T, the only other loss.

Lacrosse: The freshman lacrosse team is good, even good by Ivy League standards, which are getting higher and higher. The 6.4 loss to Yale last week gave them a 6.4 record for the year.

The season started off slowly, picked up momentum in the middle, and then fizzled out at the end. But Harvard did chalk up four straight shut-outs over Tufts, Holy Cross, Governor Dummer, and Dartmouth, before ending the season with losses to Andover and finally to Yale.

Varsity coach Bruce Munro is hard pressed to find a goalie for next year, but all the Yardling prospects need more experience. The freshman do have some fine midfield and attack prospects and Munro will probably gobble them up.