Baseball, Golf, and Tennis Begin Seasons

The varsity baseball team began its quest for the Ivy crown Saturday with a 6-4 victory over Pennsylvania. Ray Peters collected the win as Harvard took advantage of five errors and scored three unearned runs--the margin of victory.

The Game marked the start of Harvard's Ivy season, and the end of its annual southern tour of duty. The record now stands at five wins and two losses.

After working out for two days on the Detroit Tiger's practice field in Lakeland, Fla., the squad met the Florida Southern nine. Coach Norm Shepard used three pitchers, and alternated fifteen other players in the field to get a good look at his squad. Still, Harvard led until the bottom of the ninth when Southern scored the winning run.

The team then journeyed to Devon, Fla., and took a pair of games from Stetson University, 7-2 and 6-5. George Lalich won the first game with relief help from Gus Crim, and Ray Peters got credit for the second as Bob Lincoln and Robert Dorwart pitched the later innings.

The next opponent was Rollins College in Orlando, Fla., which took the first game 2-0. Lalich pitched well in the losing cause, as the Harvard attack suffered a miserable afternoon. The hitters redeemed themselves by scoring seven times in the rematch. Pitcher Bob Kalinaoski gave up only two runs in gaining the victory. In the deciding contest of the three game series, Harvard romped 9-2. Dorwart got the win in the finale of the Crimson's Florida schedule.

Hitting Sharp

Coach Shepard was especially pleased with his hitting during the seven game stretch. Leading the team in percentage is Jeff Grate who has a phenomenal .470 average. Second baseman Dick Manchester has been hitting over .320 to give the team a doubly dangerous double play combination, on the field and at bat.

Other .300 hitters include Captain Carter Lord, third baseman John Igna cio, whose .370 average is the second best on the squad, and catcher Bill Cobb.

The pitching staff has been consistently good. Peters--as he was last year--has been the ace, winning three straight since his indecisive appearance against Florida Southern. He was in real trouble only once, when Penn staged a slight rally at his expense. Relief pitcher Bob Lincoln came on and saved the Harvard victory. Lincoln is making a habit of this sort of thing. He preserved Peter's win over Stetson, and finished up Dorwart's victory over Rollins.

Porous Defense

On the minus side, the defense has not been up to the standard usually expected of a Harvard team. Coach Shepard is not worried, however, as he thinks that the mistakes are due to his shuffling around of the infield while getting a look at all his players. Yesterday he said that once the team was set, he was sure the fielding would work itself out.

Overall, the squad should be favored to repeat as champion of the Greater Boston League. Coach Shepard is not as confident about challenging Dartmouth for the Eastern League title. In addition, he feels that Princeton and Army will be especially tough opponents.

The real cause for hope lies with Peters and the strong hitting. "When we have Peters up there on the mound," said Shepard, "we can give anyone a fight."