Crimson Nine Destroys B.C., 16-0

The Crimson baseball team exploded for eight runs in the second inning yesterday and coasted to a 16-0 win over a weak Boston College squad. The margin of victory indicates that Harvard has an excellent shot at the Greater Boston League title this spring.

Senior Dan DeMichele broke out of a batting slump to spark the Crimson attack. The veteran right fielder went four for four at the plate, driving in six runs and slugging a 375-foot home run over the centerfield fence.

Although he threw a lot of pitches, southpaw J. C. Nickens held the Eagles to only two singles in seven innings, Sophomore Sandy Weissent came on in the eighth to preserve the two-hitter and boost Harvard's season record to 9-2.

"We won't win many that easily," coach Loyal Park said. "but it will take a strong effort by a good team to beat us this year."

The Crimson built its early lead on the speed of juniors Vince McGugan and Dave Ignacio and the strength of DeMichele's bat. In the first, Ignacio singled through third, stole second base, and scored on DeMichele's single down the right field line.

After two walks to shortstop Art Serrano and Nickens opened the second, McGugan and Ignacio hit back-to-back singles to score one run and load the bases.

Nickens held at third when DeMichele lofted a short fly ball to centerfield, but McGugan and Ignacio were off and running. When the ball dropped for a single. Nickens barely beat the tag of the catcher at home. While the catcher contemplated the close play, McGugan followed Nickens across the plate, right in front of the absent-minded catcher, and Ignacio moved to third.

Hal Smith put the game out of reach one out later with a two run double to center, and Serrano pushed the lead to 9-0 with a double to right that, with the help of a throwing error, scored two runs. In all, 13 players went to bat in the second.

"McGugan and Ignacio have the green light to run any time they want to," Park said. "Speed on the base-paths always forces errors."

B.C. didn't need any help committing errors as the Eagles made many careless mistakes. The right side of the infield hesitated on every grounder beyond their immediate reach and created several cheap hits.

On relays from the outfield, the Eagles kept the chilled crowd amused. In the second inning, the right fielder pegged the ball into the dirt three feet in front of him. Three innings later, the Eagles shortstop cut off a five foot throw from short left field to third, and he turned around just in time to watch Ignacio walk into third safely.

The sunny day attracted a large crowd. but most fans were driven off early by an extremely cold wind. By the sixth inning, with the score 15-0, two second string nines were playing before a crowd of ten.