Nine Takes Eastern Title; Peters, Grate Get Honors

The Harvard baseball team backed into an Eastern League title over the weekend, but the Administrative Board will probably not allow it to participate in the NCAA regionals to be held next week.

Army dropped a 3-2 decision to Dartmouth Saturday in an 18-inning affair at West Point to give Harvard the title. Paced by pitcher Ray Peters' seven straight wins, the Crimson finished 8-1 in the League. Their only loss was to the Cadets, who are now 6-2 with one game remaining.

It was retiring coach Norm Shepard's third Eastern crown in 14 years at Harvard and the fifth in the University's history.

Harvard received an invitation to the District I regional playoffs for the NCAA last week after Peters shut out Yale to clinch at least a tie in the title race. But the game comes during Exam Period, and the Administrative Board must rule today whether team members will be permitted to take make-up exams.

In the past, the Board has denied similar requests. The precedent seems to be a 1965 ruling which barred the track team from participating in a meet at Rutgers because some members had exam conflicts.

At the baseball banquet last night, Peters received the Wingate Trophy as Most Valuable Player. The junior right-hander, who has turned down numerous major league offers, finished the season 7-1 (unbeaten in the League) with a 1.87 ERA.

He averaged better than a strikeout per inning and had several big days at the plate. Against Brown, Peters knocked in one run and scored the other in a 2-0 victory.

Also at the banquet, senior shortstop Jeff Grate made Harvard history by becoming the first player to win the Wendell Bat as a sophomore and a senior. He is the tenth man to win the award twice. It is given to the team's most effective offensive player.

Grate led the team in hitting at .372 and will be named to the Greater Boston All-Star team later this week. He is also a three-year letterman in basketball.

Unless the Ad Board reverses its past positions to permit the team to compete in the NCAA's, Coach Shepard will leave Cambridge for Florida tomorrow. The victory over Yale and its retiring coach, Ethan Allan, left him with a career mark of 215 wins, 106 defeats and four ties.