Nine Begins EIBL Season; Hitter to Test Princeton

Harvard's varsity nine opens its Eastern Intercollegiate Baseball League schedule today at Princeton, and the hopes of the Crimson rest largely on the right arm of senior Tom DaShiell.

Princeton has "its best team in 18 years," acording to Harvard coach Loyal Park, because of an extremely explosive batting line-up. DaShiell will have the responsibility of holding that hitting attack in check.

In the EIBL this year, Dartimouth and Cornell are extremely strong teams. A Crimson loss to any other members of the League would greatly jeopardize Harvard's chances for the league title and a trip to the NCAA District playoffs.

On the Southern tour, right-hander DaShiell allowed only eight hits and one run in twelve innings and won both of his starts. "He has a good slider, and good control." Park said. "He's a great competitor and I have all the confidence in the world in him."

Should DaShiell need assistance on the mound, Park has six relievers, all right-handers, in the bullpen Juniors Phil Collins. Tom Kidwell, Bill Kelly, and Curt Tucker can be called upon for long relief appearances, while Dave Fierke and Tom Miller are ready for shorter stints.

Park is also relying on his batting line- up to provide substantial scoring. In nine games on the Southern tour, the Crimson drove 82 runs across the plate. Since Pete Beruhard, Dan DeMichele, Pete Varney. Vince McGugan, and Kelly all have the power to hit the long ball, Harvard is capable of starting a big rally at any moment.

McGugan, the Crimson's starting second baseman, has recovered completely from a spiking he received in the first game against Huntington College. If replacements are needed. Park has two .300 sophomore hitters, Tim Bilodean and Mike Thomas, sitting on the bench.

Princeton's starting nine closely resembles Harvard's: a strong hitting team, sound defense, but questionable pitching strength. The Tigers won four of six games in the Ft. Jackson-South Carolina tournament, trying for the championship with Massachusetts.

Credit for that record goes to the Tigers batting strength, which produced a nine-run average per game. The team hit a composite .322, slightly higher than Harvard's .309. Princeton was led by its powerful outfielders, leftfielder Doug Blake (458), rightfielder Hank Bjorkland (42?), and centerfielder Paul Colburn (.417).

The pitching rotation, however, was shaky, yielding 37 runs in six games. Only Bob Wolfe performed creditably, winning twice and holding Massachusetts, a team that finished fifth in the nation last season, to only one run. The remainder of the mound staff compiled an 8.00 ERA.

Today's game, matching two powerful hitting teams, could be a high-scoring affair. Since either team can produce a big inning, the key to the outcome should be the late-inning strength of the hurlers.