Crimson Nine Stars in Classic; Hopes High for Upcoming Season

The baseball team travelled south looking for nice weather and a lot of experience, and it returned Saturday night after winning each of the ten games it played.

Playing the ten games on Florida Presbyterian's well-kept field. the Crimson outscored its opponents, 68-14.

Pete Varney led the Harvard attack. batting .571 with five home runs and 21 R.B.T's. Three Harvard pitchers posted 2-0 records, and one John Todd, sparkled as he beat a St. Louis Cardinal minor league team, 2-1, and held Aurora College to one hit in a 3-0 game.

Edged and Dealt

Besides beating all its opponents in the first annual College Baseball Classic-which included Florida Presbyterian. Aurora, and Washington and Lee-the baseball team edged Cedar Rapids, a Cardinal Class A team, and dealt Huntington College two losses in a doubleheader.

The tightest game the Crimson played was against the Cardinal farm team. Harvard did not manage to push over the winning run until the tenth inning.

When the College Baseball Classic began Monday. the Harvard offense exploded for 16 runs against its first opponent, Florida Presbyterian.

J. C. Nickens pitched the first six innings, giving up one earned run, while striking out 12 and walking five. Bill Kelly hit a grand slam home run in the first inning after the Florida pitcher tried to get around the Harvard power by walking Varney.

Round Robin

In its second game in the round robin competition the Crimson nine let up a bit and collected only nine runs as pitcher ??il Collins recorded the first of three Harvard shutouts. He struck out eight and walked only two. In this game, Varney hit the first of his five home runs.

Varney continued his hot hitting streak in the next game against Washington and Lee as he went four-for-four and drove in nine runs, before being taken out after the fifth inning. Harvard won, 16-1.

From the Outfield

In its next three games, the Crimson turned in victories over the same three college teams. In the first game. Kelly came in from the outfield and pitched an 8-0 shutont over Florida Presbyterian.

Curt Tucker started the second game against Washington and Lee and survived some control problems to win, 10-4, with some excellent relief from Dave Florke. Todd posted his one-hit shut-out in the final classic game.

Nickens struck out six in the final game of the classic against Aurora, posting a convincing 12-2 victory. Varney went two for three, and led off the third inning with a home run.

Great Expectations

The Crimson lineup did not fall below expectations as six batters ended the tour with batting averages over 300.

Captain Jack Turco hit .438: Vince McGugan, a sophomore, hit .393: Dan DeMichele collected two homers and batted .368: and Kelley and Neil Hurley each hit .320. Mike Thomas and Tim Bilodeau, who did not start, also ended the tour with .300-plus averages.

"I'm really pleased with our development," coach Loyal Park said yesterday, "In attitude we're very much like the old powerhouse Yankees-give us a break and we'll score on you," he added.