Nine Seeks Resurgence of Hitting

The Crimson nine was able to ease past M.I.T. Wednesday, 9-1, on only seven hits. But if Harvard hopes to keep pace with four other teams in the race for the Eastern League title, the Crimson hitting attack will have to snap out of its slump against Army and Cornell this weekend.

"We've been winning games by hook and by crook," coach Loyal Park said. "I have to come right out and admit we're not hitting. We've built a 13-2 record on bunting, stealing, hit-and-run, and taking advantage of errors. That can't go on forever. What we need now is a three or four game stretch where we tear the cover off the ball."

Renaissance Wanted

A batting renaissance could not come at any better time than this weekend. All of the top five teams are facing rough schedules this weekend: a Harvard-Cornell doubleheader, a Navy-Princeton doubleheader, and a single game between Cornell and Dartmouth. A Crimson three-game sweep would put pressure on the other teams to catch Harvard in the closing weeks.

Park is not planning on overemphasizing the team's anemic hitting before the weekend games. "If you dwell on a problem it becomes a psychological hang-up. The boys just need to keep swinging because we know the potential is there."

The weekend trip combining Army and Cornell is probably the most physically taxing for the nine. To minimize fatigue, the Crimson spent last night outside West Point and is busing to Cortland right after the Army game.

Park emphasized that Army is presently the Crimson's number one objective. "You've got to ignore Cornell and play your strongest weapons everyday." Park said. "If we lose to Army, the pressure will really be on us." Park is planning on starting the Crimson's top right-hander, Phil Collins, today.

Army has a team which can capitalize on the Crimson's recent hitting slump. Although the team is 2-4 in the Eastern League, three of those games were lost by a single run and two were 1-0 defeats. "They have four experienced pitchers," Park said. "and that's exactly what we don't need at the moment."

The Cadets also have three hitters batting over 300 in the Eastern League. Only Harvard's Art Serrano (.308) is amongst that select group. "Art's having a great year." Park said, "and it's nice to have a strong hitter at that point in the line-up [8]."

Eastern League

Cornell 5 1

Harvard 5 1

Navy 4 1

Princeton 4 1

Dartmouth 4 2

Brown 2 4

Army 2 4

Columbia 1 4

Yale 1 5

Penn 0 5