Del Rossi-McPherson Pitching Battle To Highlight Northeastern Game Here

Three years ago a wave of athletic talent hit the North-eastern University campus; now Husky teams are starting to show the results. Their football team went undefeated, the hockey team almost won an invitation to the ECAC tournament, and this spring's baseball team looks about as good.

Reason A is Dick McPherson, a 6-2, 215-pound monster who pitches baseballs when he's not playing center for the football team. Harvard's team has some sad memories of McPherson; he beat them 8-1 last year, yielding just three hits in the process. At season's end he owned a 5-3 record and a 2.12 earned-run average.

McPherson will be on the mound today when the Huskies meet the Crimson at Kindlestick Park, and he'll have plenty of support. All-New England second baseman Neil McPhee (.347 last year) has moved over to fill in at shortstop; Paul Lombardi (.313), an outfielder last year takes over at second. With Captain Jim Keening (.306) at third, the Huskies should have the best-hitting infield around.

The Huskies will need their best hitting if they're going to win today, though, because they'll be facing Paul del Rossi. The Crimson's ace southpaw came back from the vacation tour with an almost invisible 0.60 E.R.A. in two games.

But no pitcher can win without hitting, and there's some question whether del Rossi will get any today. Shortstop Tom Bilodeau, who should have been among the team's best hitters, hurt a knee sliding into home at Lynchburg--he'll be out for a while. So Jim Tobin, the best hitter on the squad at .348, will fill in for him and Bob St. George will play third, where Tobin might be otherwise. St. George had one hit during the tour.

Usually the team returns from the South with a few .400 hitters and plenty of other good avarages. But this year, after Tobin, only captain Tom Stephenson (.333) and second baseman Skip Falcone (.318) are over .300. After that it's a long way back to catcher Gary Miller (.263).

Stephenson and outfielder Mike Patrick are the only familiar faces in a Crimson lineup radically altered by injuries and slumps. Miller stepped in when John Dockery (.391 with the freshmen last year) couldn't hit, but unless someone in the outfield starts hitting, Dockery may find a home there. Patrick, Mike Neville, and Al Liebgott, a happy surprise "find" for coach Norm Shephard, have not been coming through with the big hits.

The Del Rossi-McPherson pitching deul should make today's game one of the year's best. It's also the kickoff point for the Crimson's defense of its Greater Boston League Title.