New Haven Game Today Opens Harvard-Yale Diamond Series

Two teams of almost equal strength, to judge from the records of the season now drawing to a close, will face each other when the Harvard and Yale nines meet in New Haven this afternoon, to open the annual diamond series between the two universities.

The Crimson baseball team opened its season with a row of victories which led followers of Harvard sports to hope for a championship outfit. Yale, on the other hand, made a very, unimpressive start, and the Blue nine was considered the weakest seen in New Haven in many years. Along in the middle of the season, however, all the speculations on both combinations were upset. It became evident that Harvard certainly did not have an aggregation of championship caliber, and it was equally clear that the Eli diamond strength had been greatly underestimated.

Both Teams Uneven

There is little to choose between the two. Both have been sporadic in their hitting, and the best hurlers of both pitching staffs have been pounded out of the box by slugging opponents. With both teams at their best, one can predict as close a hurlers duel as there has been in the whole series. With both or either nine in its less happy mood, there is no telling what kind of a score might result.

J. N. Barbee '28 will start on the mound for Harvard. The Crimson ace has always found the going rougher in a Yale series than in any other games of the season, but if he has a good day, the Elis should be kept well in check. F. B. Cutts '28, who has always pitched his best ball against Yale in a relief role, should be able to put to good advantage the large amount of experience he has gained this seasons if he is called upon this afternoon. Howard Whitmore '29, is a third pitcher who deserves to rank with Barbee and Cutts.

In Captain Sawyer, Dudley Smith, and Brewster Loud, Yale has a trio of capable twirlers who pitched with or against each other several years ago on Exeter and Andover nines Sawyer or Smith will probably be called on to face the Crimson batters this afternoon.

The Harvard squad left Cambridge for New Haven yesterday morning and spent last night at the Choate School in Wallingfont, Conn.