Crimson Nine Destroys B.C.

It was a long (three and a half hours) and cold (temperatures hovering in the thirties) contest. When it was finally over, to the relief of the handful of chilled fans who stuck it all out, Loyal Park's Crimson varsity baseball squad had come out with a 10-6 opening-day victory over Greater Boston League rival Boston College at Chestnut Hill.

The team returned from the South last weekend with an 8-3 record and a couple of injuries, including a hamstring pull to Dave St. Pierre that kept him out of the game. The Saint did get in one trip to the plate to pinch hit. Scott Adzick and Fran Cronin filled in for him in right field.

"It's guys like Scott and Fran that are going to help this team be a winner," Park said. "We needed them and they came off the bench at the last moment to get the job done."

Jimmy Stoeckel took full advantage of the B.C. parade of hurlers as he picked up three RBIs on only a single hit to boost his team-leading total.

Jump Start

The senior captain and third baseman took his first RBI in the first inning as his grounder to second gave Harvard a quick lead off starting pitcher Kevin Gormley. Gormley gave up another run in the inning when he walked Ric LaCivita with the bases full.

Harvard didn't pick up its first hit until the third, but could not capitalize for another run. Stoeckel had a disputed double in the inning as his shot hit the foul pole in right. The umpire immediately called it foul, but then seemed to change his mind, setting off a game-delaying argument between the umps, Gormley, Park and the irascible Eagle coach Eddy Pellagrini, who sounds somewhat like Yogi Berra when he's riled.

The outcome of the free-for-all had Stoeckel sent back from second to the plate where he eventually struck out.

Making It Stick

Harvard extended its lead to three in the fourth as Leigh Hogan had an RBI double. Meanwhile, Crimson starter Mike O'Malley was breezing through the contest with five strike-outs and a no-hitter. But the powerful B.C. lineup began to hit in the fifth, and tied the game.

Center fielder Paul Harrington got the first Eagle hit of the game, but wasn't on base for long. Freshman phenom Tom Songin, a Walpole boy, slammed one hard over the left field fence to narrow B.C.'s gap. A sacrifice fly by Paul O'Neill with the bases full knotted the score.

Jimmy Thomas and Stoeckel put the Crimson back on top in the sixth with a pair of RBI singles at the expense of B.C. ace Bill Ruane, on in relief for Gormley. LaCivita had an RBI base hit bunt in the seventh off new pitcher and previous designated hitter, Don McDonough to make it 6-3.

But the Eagles did not give up. They struck for three more runs in the bottom of the seventh to tie it up again. O'Neill and first baseman Ned Yetten did the damage against Milt Holt, who came on in the sixth to pitch the rest of the game.

It was Stoeckel who had the game-winning "hit" in the eighth, as he drove Durso in on a hard shot to center field that B.C.'s Harrington could not quite find the handle on. Harrington was charged with the error, and Stoeckel ended up on second. He came home on Leon Goetz's single.

Loyal's legions iced it in the ninth as Ed Durso drove in another with a double and Jimmy Stoeckel drew a walk with the bases loaded off yet another Eagle pitcher, Larry Moran.

It was not exactly a game the baseball purist would have found totally satisfying.