Nine Wins Twice As Tennis Team Splits

Norm Shepard has come in for little criticism as baseball coach, but if there is one element in his strategy that Soldiers Field fans object to, it is his reliance on the bunt. And both the strength and weakness of this element in the Crimson attack were demonstrated in Saturday's game.

John Getch laid down a perfect squeeze bunt to bring home the run that beat Columbia, 4 to 3, in the last of the ninth. But his tap, which went for an infield hit, came only a few pitches after another bunt call had almost quenched the Crimson's rally.

After John Simourian had lined a lead-off single to left to open the home ninth, clean-up hitter Bob Hastings, tied for the team lead in runs batted in, came to the plate. Hastings had previously flied to deep center in the first, and blasted a 400-foot homer over the center fielder's head in the sixth. Hastings, though, was ordered to bunt, and successfully sacrificed Simourian to third.

The rally nearly died when Botsford grounded to shortstop, but the Lion infielder was undecided whether to catch Botsford at first or Simourian at third and booted the ball to set the stage for Getch's hit.

The win kept the Crimson barely alive in the Eastern League race, although Princeton's 4-1 victory over Yale established the Tigers as solid favorites for the title. Princeton now stands at 5-0, with Yale (6-2), Army (3-1), and Navy and the Crimson (each 3-2) following.

Bob Kessler started and pitched effectively for eight innings until lifted for a pinch-hitter in the eighth, and Bob McGinnis got the victory for pitching the ninth. Again it was a case of the Crimson's failing to hit in the clutch, as 11 men were left on base. The varsity's batting average now stands at about .240, and the team has been averaging less than six hits per game since it came north.

It was the varsity's second straight win of the weekend, coming behind an 8-2 triumph Friday over Northeastern. Dom Repetto went the route and scattered four hits, as the winners combined seven hits, two each by Simourian and Tom Bergantino, with five Husky errors for their third straight win in defense of the Greater Boston League title.

The Crimson nine, playing its fourth game in five days, travels to meet M.I.T. this afternoon in a Greater Boston League game. Joel Bernstein will probably start in the 3:30 p.m. contest.