Springfield Nine Trounces Varsity; Weak Defense Allows 12-2 Victory

A surprisingly strong baseball squad from Springfield College came to Soldiers Field yesterday, was entertained for three hours by the Crimson varsity's surprisingly weak defensive performance, and left with credit for a 12-2 victory.

It was one of those days whose only benefit will be to keep the Crimson from overconfidence during the rest of the season. The team made five errors, and three more that were kept out of the records only by the rules of official scoring.

Disappointing Pitching

These lapses put pitchers Wally Cook, Ed Wadsworth, and By Johnson at a great disadvantage, and the 13 hits that the Gymnasts collected made things even harder for them. Disappointing as the pitching was, it should be said that only six Springfield runs were officially earned and that a good job by the Crimson fielders would have held the visitors to only one run for the afternoon.

Springfield pushed over three tallies in both the second and third innings off starter Cook, who was having trouble keeping his curve from hanging but deserved to be unscored on in each frame. In the second, Tom Johnson walked, moved along on a sacrifice and wild pitch, then beat Cook's pitch with a dramatic steal of home. A throwing error by third baseman Mo Balboni followed, opening the door for two more runs on a single and double.

The Gymnasts moved out of reach after the third, scoring twice in the fifth, sixth, and seventh innings. Meanwhile, pitcher Bill Sullivan's fast balls were keeping the Crimson bats fairly quiet. Captain John Davis beat out an infield hit in the third and scored on Chet Boulris' lost-in-the-sun fly to right that fell for a triple.

This hit should have been no more than a double, but Boulris got the extra base by barreling into third baseman Tom Johnson, dislodging the ball from his glove and Johnson from the ball game, badly bruised. Boulris added the other run on a long homer through the right-centerfield gap in the eighth.