Stahl's Varsity Nine Shaping Up for Spring Vacation Tour Through South

Coach Floyd Stahl's Crimson Varsity baseball practices have been intensified down in Briggs Cage this week as preparations were speeded for the coming vacation trip to Dixie and the games with the University of North Carolina, Navy, Duke, Georgetown, and Army in rapid succession.

Heading northward, the Crimson nine will stop in at New York to open the E.I.L. campaign with Columbia on Saturday, April 6. The squad has been working in the Cage for over six weeks now and Stahl has started to whip a good playing unit into shape. There has been plenty of opportunity for batting and infield drills, but the outfielders will have to wait until they got outside for any real work.

Good Freshmen

Gone are Lupe Lupien, Art Johns, Bob Gannett, Dick Grondahl, and several losser lights, but last year's Freshman team has provided many capable replacements. The mound staff is shaping up pretty well, with Captain Tom Healey ready for a bigger year than over before. Behind him are Charley Brackett, Lou Clay, Burgey Ayres, Jack Schwede, and a couple of other comers.

The infield needs a complete rebuilding with only shortstop Fred Keyes left. Bob Fulton, a converted catcher, Cliff Helman, Gil Whittemore, and Joe Romano are getting most of the attention at third, while Keyes and Russ Ayres are operating at short. Sam Merrill, Wally Liverance, Bud Finegan, and Jim Lynch are second base possibilities. Ed Buckley and Les Pitchford are the ranking first basemen.

That leaves Bill Tully, originally counted on as a first base prospect, in the outfield patrol with Torbie Macdonald and Gene Lovett in the other lead roles. The catching is uncertain as yet, but there is enough material there in Bill Parsons, Charley Spreyer, and Bob Regan to silence most doubts. They are all rather inexperienced, but good enough prospects to let Stahl shift Fulton last year's ranking backstop, out to third.