CRIMSON AND ELI NINES HAVE HAD VARIED SEASONS

The record of fourteen victories in twenty-two games is what the University nine has registered in its preliminary season--that is, its season preliminary to the Yale series, which begins today; and in only a few of the eight defeats did the Crimson appear to be outclassed.

The season started with three pretraining-trip contests on Soldiers Field which the University won easily, although no exceptional playing was shown. These games served chiefly as a test of the large squad with a view to choosing the men to go South. On April 16, the twenty-two men comprising the first team journeyed to Georgia for a week's training. At Atlanta, Georgia Tech was met and, due to six errors, was presented with a 7-6 game. The tables were turned the following day, however, and the first real intimation of the nine's true power appeared in its 5-2 victory over Oglethorpe.

The regular at home season started with a 6-2 victory over Colby on April 27, in which Russell, holding his opponents to three safeties and catching a single and two doubles himself, was the shining light. Another Maine aggregation, Bowdoin, was the next victim, 4-1, with Goode yielding only four hits.

Lose to Dartmouth

Bunching hits was the team's forte in the win over New Hampshire State, 4-0. Russell allowed a mere two, safeties, and Emmons and Conlon were the fielding stars. The good work came to a sudden halt that very week, however, when a bad slump helped push Dartmouth on to a 9-2 victory. The first Holy Cross game was one of the tightest and most interesting of the season, and but for a temporary lapse in the fourth inning when Lincoln overthrew second and gave the Purple an opening for a successful squeeze play, the score might have been in the home team's favor. Holy Cross won 3-1.

Conlon starred in the 6-0 victory over M. A. C. on May 16, making three runs and directly preventing more than one run by the visitors. Goode allowed only four hits. Another decided slump appeared when Amherst unexpectedly blanked the University, 8-0. The latter's three hits were weak ones, and her six errors were disastrous.

Two Straight from Tigers

The team returned to its usual standard, however, in its 8-2 defeat of Princeton on May 21. Goode allowed but four hits while his team-mates collected eleven. The Japanese nine of Waseda University was barely nosed out in the tenth inning, 6-5, in an exciting game the following Wednesday. Owen scored the winning run by close base running. The winning streak was extended to include the second Princeton game, the score being 4-2, in the most exciting and creditable game of the year.

The following Monday Brown walked away with a 7-3 victory. Loss of the Crimson's batting eye was responsible; but this defect was partly atoned for in the 6-2 defeat of Williams.

Lack of the necessary punch spelled defeat in the extra-inning games with Pennsylvania and Vermont, 6-4 and 4-3, respectively, and Holy Cross followed up with its slamming victory of 12-6, but against Fordham and Tufts the team easily showed its superiority.

The weakest parts of the team have been a tendency for the outfield to err in recovering hits and playing ground balls, and an inconsistency in batting. Murphy is taking good care of the receiving end of the battery, although his throwing arm is weak and his base-running slow. Owen has stepped in at first, the only place to be filled from last year's nine, and is playing like a veteran. He is, perhaps, the steadiest man on the team and often makes seemingly impossible stops and pickups. Emmons, Conlon, and Lincoln are a fast and heavy-hitting infield trio, aild Hallock, Janin and Crocker have improved noticeably in the last games.

No matter which team the University-Yale series may prove to be the better, it is a fact that the Eli players who will run out to the field this afternoon in their first 1921 battle with the Crimson make up a most formidable aggregation. Twenty-four victories and only seven defeats tell the story of the Blue's power, which is, however, not really appreciated unless there are taken into account both the scores of the contests and the fact that, after losing twice to the phenomenally strong Holy Cross nine, the Elis came back with a 7-3 victory.

The season started with the southern trip, the first game being played against Auburn at Macon, Georgia, and resulting in a 4-1 victory for the visitors. Of the remaining four contests below the Mason and Dixon line, Yale won four dropping one to Georgia University 6-5. The vanquished were Alabama, Florida, and South Carolina Universities, and Mercer College.

Then, starting with a victory over Vermont on April 6 by the score of 7-3. Fordham took advantage of some Blue misplays in the eight to pull out ahead in a pitchers' battle by the tally of 2-1. Four days later, however, Yale took the first of their series with Columbia 8-3, and on April 16, with Coxe on the mound caught the Pennsylvania nine off form and sent it down to a 4-2 defeat. Then came the worst set-back of the year for the New Haven men, for they ran up against the Holy Cross outfit when it was feeling about its best, and, failing to find Tunney, came out at the wrong end of a 14-1 tally.

A Six-Game Winning Streak

After this reverse Yale started on one of the winning streaks that has characterized its whole season. On April 27 the Elis rolled an 11-5 score up against Brown, pounding the Bears' first pitcher out of the box in the sixth with a fusilade of hits. Trinity next was smothered 19-0 in a one-sided contest, and three days later, in the Dartmouth game they forced the Green to use three pitchers, and even then came out the winner 6-5. Catholic University, Virginia, Williams, were three other scalps that the Blue added to its belt while on its two-week rampage, the scores being 2-1, 9-1, and 9-5 respectively.

The rich vein of victory, however, was immediately followed by a losing streak. Penn State piled up six runs in the ninth, thereby breaking the 3-3 tie that Yale had been able to maintain, chiefly through the brilliant fielding of Aldrich and Hickey, and winning 9-3. The following game, on May 14, was also a defeat, the second administered to Yale by Holy Cross. Tunney was again effective against the Blue, allowing them only two hits, both by Crane. Some snappy work on the bases, however, gained Yale two runs, while a corresponding sleepiness on the part of the Worcester players kept their tally down, so that at the end the score stood at the low figure of 5-2. Four days later Pittsburg hung up its eighth victory when it humbled the Elis 6-3.

It was necessary then for the Blue players to come out of their slump if they expected to count among the college teams of 1921. They did come out, and rolled up ten consecutive wins before they were defeated last Saturday by the unexpectedly improved Princeton team. Cornell was the first to suffer from the Eli rejuvenation; and the next victim was Wesleyan, who was topped 10-6 in a struggle featured by hard hitting and loose defensive work on both sides. The following day the Waseda University nine was humbled 5-1 in a cleverly played contest, and then in a return game at New Haven, the Cornell team was again downed, this time 3-1. Next the Yale team journeyed to New York to make the crowds gathered for the Columbia Class Day unhappy by licking the Morning-side players 13-5.

Two days later, on June 1, the Blue nine swung into its longest stride, and reached its best form. Holy Cross went to New Haven basing their confidence of victory on their two previous successes, but the Yale players turned them down to a 7-3 defeat. Tunney, who had before held the Eli hits to a sad minimum, was knocked out of the box in the sixth, while his opponents continued to find his successor, Gill. This was unquestionably Yale's triumph of the season, and it is on account of this victory, more than for anything else that life University cannot feel confident today.

Even Break With Tigers

The first game in the Yale-Princeton series was played on June 4, and the Yale steam-roller flattened out the Tigers in a decisive fashion; the victory going to the Blue by the score of 4-0. Following this contest Yale downed Tufts 6-1, with Robinson's pitching the feature of the Blue play; Syracuse was out-smashed 13-6 in a slugging match; and Brown was nosed out last Wednesday 5-4 by ninth and tenth inning rallies, Aldrich bringing across the winning run in the extra session. Last Saturday, however, the Blue winning streak snapped. The Princeton Tigers recovered from the wounds administered by the University and Yale, and strengthened by playing on their home ground, uncovered the bunting game, and thus catching the Elis off their guard and giving them a 4-2 defeat.

It was a bad bump for Yale, especially at that critical time; but it must be remembered that the Princeton team that won last Saturday and the one humbled by the University were just as different as intensive coaching and the lack of it. Such a defeat, also, was perhaps the best thing for the Eli team. They have been saved from overconfidence for the coming series, and they go on the field more formidable than if they had beaten Princeton and gained their eleventh straight victory.