Crimson Nine Takes On Tech and Northeastern

When Harvard has a bad time with baseball powerhouses like Army, Navy, and Dartmouth, it can usually fall back on a tame group of seven colleges called the Greater Boston League for a share of local glory. But barring a miracle before the GBL season ends this week, the Crimson won't be in the top spot for the first time in five years.

The best Harvard can do is beat M.I.T. today and Northeastern Wednesday to wind up with a 5-1 mark that would normally take GBL honors in a breeze. But even should they be upset by the Crimson, the Huskies will pulverize weaklings Brandeis and M.I.T. and cop their first title in the GBL's 14-year history with an impressive 8-1 record.

Today's 4 p.m. game at M.I.T. has the air of a warmup for Wednesday's showdown here against Northeastern. And with Harvard riding a three game losing streak in which it has been outscored 26-7, a warmup is very much needed.

The Engineers have beaten Catholic. Norwich, Coast Guard, and Brandeis, but have lost to 13 teams of no greater repute. In fact, the Brandeis decision was reversed last week when the Judges won their first game of the year, 5-4, over M.I.T.

Harvard coach Norm Shepard has nominated sophomore hurler Bob Lincoln to face M.I.T. The Engineers have a trio of .300 hitters in Jeff Altman, Rich Young, and Mike Ryba, but Lincoln should be able to overpower them along with the rest of the lineup.

It will be a different story, however, when Jim McCandlish goes against Northeastern's Steve Grolnic in a duel of the League's two best southpaws Wednesday.

The Huskies pre-season hopes were directed at the 500 level but they have parlayed clutch hitting and consistently good pitching for a 14-4 record so far.

Northeastern owns pairs of victories over B.U. B.C., and Tufts -- all by at least three-run margins.

Third baseman Mark Hurwitz is hitting .343, left fielder Dick Paster, .306, catcher Ron Powers .300, and center fielder Russ Imbrenda .293. First baseman Fred Kos has recently slumped to .257 but is potentially the heaviest hitter on the team.

Sharp Southpaws

The Huskies' prime asset is the sharpest pair of southpaws in Massachusetts, senior Steve Grolnic and sophomore Ed McCarty. Grolnic, who will face Harvard, is 6-2 with a 2.32 earned run average and 83 strikeouts in 58 innings.

McCandlish, who sports a 1.49 ERA second only to Grolnic's 0.78 in GBL games, has pitched some good games of late and should give the Huskies a real battle.

A sidelight in this week's games will be Bob Welz's bid for the GBL batting title. The Crimson's hot-hitting first baseman currently tops the loop with a .438 mark. John Dockery (.400). Jim Tobin (.400), Nell Houston (.374), and Dan Hootstein (.353) are also in contention.