The More Things Change...

Last year, the Harvard baseball team batted .317 and finished with the fifth best mark in the nation.

Midway into the 1993 season, the Crimson's average has dropped by an astounding 82 points, to .235. This weekend, the top four spots in the Crimson's batting order went 17-for-47 (.362) but the rest of the line-up hit a measly 12-for-54 (.222).

Juniors Mike Giardi (22-for-57, .386) and Dave Morgan (22-for-64, .344) are the only players who are anywhere near the .300 barrier, while last year's team featured seven starting players who hit better than .300.

This lack of production, however, hasn't changed things much.

Last year's team was 9-10 overall through 19 games, 5-3 in league play, while this year's team is 8-11 overall with the same 5-3 mark in the Ivies.

Where the offense has let the Crimson down, the pitching has team up. Senior Ray Desrocher has lowered his ERA by over four runs per game, from 7.69 in 1992 to 3.29 this year.

The pitching staff has also received first-rate performances from the ambidextrous sophomore Jamie Irving (3-2, 3.72 ERA, a team-high 24 K's and 36 innings pitched, and a 2-0 Ivy League record) and from sophomore reliever Mike Cicero (2-0 Ivy and 2-0 overall with a 3.33 ERA).

****

Key Weekend Games: Harvard has completed its play against the Lou Gehrig (southern) division and now must face Yale, Brown, and Dartmouth four times each the rest of the way. The Bulldogs (15-3, 6-0 Ivy) lead the Red Rolfe (northern) division by two games over Harvard and Dartmouth (9-6, 4-2 Ivy) and 4.5 games over Brown (3-12, 1-4 Ivy).

Last year at this point, Harvard was one game behind Yale, having split its two games with the Elis. The four games against Yale this Saturday and Sunday should be the key to deciding Harvard's fate for the remainder of the season.

****

Opposition Theft Up: It seems like the word has been spread around the Ivy League to run on Harvard. Opponents are stealing bases at an 86.1 percent rate (31-for-36), while the Crimson is only 12-for-22, a 54.5 per-cent success rate.

Princeton's game-winning hit against Harvard on Sunday scored two men who had swiped second and third.

If senior catcher Phil Andriola and the pitching staff can cut down on the stolen bases, the team ERA should go down.

****

Hard Luck Pitcher: Senior pitcher Chip Poncy has had back luck the last week and a half.

Columbia shelled him for 11 runs (7 earned) in 2.2 innings 11 days ago. Then he lost to New Hampshire by giving up one unearned run on one hit in two innings.

Last Saturday, his game against Princeton was rained out after he had faced only three batters. In Sunday's make-up, Head Coach Leigh Hogan pulled him after 2.2 innings. He had again given up one unearned run on one hit, walking a batter each inning.

****

Fundamentally Flawed: Poor execution on bunting cost Harvard two good chances in last Sunday's game against Princeton. With runners on first and second and no outs in the fourth, sophomore Joe Weidenbach, who had already bunted one ball foul during this at-bat, was asked to sacrifice on a 2-2 count and fouled the pitch off for strike three. Harvard failed to extend its 2-1 lead and subsequently lost the game.

The other lost opportunity was a fouled-off squeeze attempt by sophomore Bo Bernhard in the fifth, with Princeton leading 4-3.

On the positive side, Andriola successfully laid down two bunts in the game, producing one run.

****

Golden Gloves: Bernhard has committed only one error in 70 chances at second base, a fielding average of .986.

Junior Eric Weissman has been very solid at third base the last six games. In the fourth inning of the game on Saturday against Princeton, Weissman made a diving stop of a blast down the third-base line, ala Brooks Robinson. The stop held the batter to a single and prevented the Tigers from scoring, when the Crimson was leading 5-4.

****

The Captain Strikes Back: Captain Mike Hill broke out of a mini one-for-eight slump on Sunday. The first nine pitches he saw were all balls. He laced the next pitch, which made its way into the strike-zone, deep to right-center for a double that bounced off the fence. Hill also hit the ball hard his next at-bat, but it was caught deep in center.

"I had been fighting with myself," Hill said. "Now I am more relaxed."

****

NOTES: Sophomore designated hitter James Crowley pulled a hamstring on Friday against Cornell and was replaced in the lineup by Weidenbach for the two game against Princeton. Crowley pinch-hit in the second game, but grounded out to its first...Harvard has not hit a triple in its first 19 games, while its opponents have hit only one. Last year, the Crimson had 18 three-baggers...The Crimson is 8-7 on weekends and 0-4 during the week...Harvard has scored first only five times and has led only five times after the fifth inning. Half of the Crimson's eight wins have