Coach Nat Harris Reviews Stand-out Freshman Nine

If there was one thing that made this year's freshmen baseball team a stand-out squad, it would have to be their fielding. "The hitting was off-and-on, and the pitching had lapses, too, but everybody could handle his position, and handle it well," Coach Nat Harris said.

All told, in the ten games the squad played -- eight of which they won -- only 22 errors were committed, and only one by an outfielder. This is opposed to last season's 38 errors. "A marked improvement," commented Coach Harris.

Even the players who could hit well were excellent fielders. Ken Thomas, the captain and leading hitter with a 371 average, threw out three men at the plate trying to score from second on singles. The husky leftfielder, incidentally also led the team in stolen bases and runs batted in.

Good Infield

The infield, which accounted for nine double plays, was "one of the best we've ever had," according to Harris. Jim Reynolds, the shortstop and best hitter in the group at .291, worked well with second-baseman Bill Cherry at the pivot. Cherry, Harris said, didn't have too high an average but "he was walked and hit by the pitcher so often that he got on base only one less time than Thomas, and getting on is the important thing."

Greg Kundrat, the third baseman, led the club in extra base hits to go along with his .287 average. "He'd hit some of the longest blasts, and they'd come just when we needed them, Harris pointed out.

Another slugger, rightfielder Joe DeChellis, single-handedly pulled out the Holy Cross game. The Andover grad hit a double, triple, and home run in that game to account for both Harvard runs. Neal Hurley "played what I think is the hardest position and did a good job in center," Harris said.

No Balls

The coach called his pitching staff "solid and consistent." Dave Fierke, a control hurler who "threw more strikes than balls and that's all a pitcher's supposed to do," led the mound corps with a 3-1 record.

Fireballing Mike Luggen won two games, and struck out the most opponents. The tall Kentuckian, who had arm trouble early in the spring, had a good curve and a moving fast ball. Gus Crimm, when he wasn't playing first base, also saw a good deal of action on the pitcher's mound.

The catchers -- Fritz Reed and Jack Turco -- played about equally and both played well.

The off-and-on hitting led to the team's two losses. The freshmen managed only 2 hits off Dartmouth's Bob Seelbach, losing 2-1, and couldn't push a run across against Springfield, falling 2-0. But after each loss, they came back strong to first pound Northeastern, 11-2, and then romped Yale, 8-6. They closed the season by whipping Exeter, 7-0.