Baseball to Rumble With Tigers, Red

With four games in the next two days, the Harvard baseball team will be in full swing, as it gets into the meat of their schedule.

The Crimson (6-6, 0-1 Ivy) travels to Cornell and Princeton this weekend for a pair of doubleheaders. Harvard has one Ivy league game, a loss to Brown, under its proverbial belt, but its whole season is still ahead.

This young Harvard squad should get a rough idea of where they stand in the league after this weekend's play.

With four freshmen seeing action in the team's last game, a 13-10 win over UNH on Tuesday, the Crimson's youngsters will surely have chances to contribute to the team effort early on in the season.

Against UNH, freshman Garrett Vail pitched six solid innings, and the Crimson proved that it can put runs on the board. Not only can the team score, but it can also do so when not batting its best, as shown by the 13 runs Harvard manufactured off six hits.

However, the Crimson cannot depend on such error-filled play in future games, as Cornell and Princeton should both provide a little better defense than that which the Crimson saw against New Hampshire.

The Crimson faces the Big Red of Cornell this afternoon. Last season, Harvard lost twice to Cornell in two close games, so the veterans on the squad should be looking for a little payback.

Saturday's double-dip with Princeton will replay a double header from exactly a year ago this weekend, when Harvard and Princeton each took a game. The Crimson won decisively 13-4 in the first, but were held to a single run as the Tigers scored five in the second game.

But, all this history is lost to a huge fraction of the squad. The numerous freshman on the team--along with first-year Harvard coach Joe Walsh--will be playing Cornell and Princeton for the first of many times, in this the dawn of their college careers.

If the UNH game taught Harvard fans anything, they can expect to see at least two freshmen starting. Peter Woodfork should get the call at second and Hal Carey will probably be doing the designated hitting. Senior Dennis Doble and junior Craig Wilke will both see time behind the plate, with all the innings being played in the next two days. Captain Marc Levy will be anchoring the outfield; but the big question will be the pitching.

With all these games, the whole staff will have to work together to produce Crimson success. Expect to see junior Frank Hogan throwing again this weekend (he came out of the bullpen against UNH); and freshman Quinn Schafer might see a start too.

These are only two of the 13 total pitchers on the squad who might see action. Although some of those 13 throw sparingly, most of the staff should get some time on the mound.

Spring break is history and Harvard is definitely into the real season. The four league games the Crimson play this weekend will definitely set a tone for the manifold games to come.

If the pitching can hold up throughout the weekend, the Crimson has the potential to surprise a few people and win four league games in a hurry. Although most people know it is impolite to double-dip, the baseball team may learn that manners are for the birds, if it fares well in the pair of doubleheaders this weekend.