Eastern Title Hopes Are Dim As Nine Drops Three Games

In a startling turnabout that should drag Ripley from his grave and send Jean Dixon into retirement, the Harvard baseball team collapsed this weekend, losing to Columbia, 7-6, on Friday, then dropping a doubleheader to the Princeton Tigers, 9-6 and 11-2, on Saturday.

The Crimson crumbled at its foundations, as the defense and pitching that had carried the team to 20 wins fell a part. The losses put the Crimson post-season schedule in jeaopardy, for if Cornell wins its next three games, Harvard will be going to no tournament this year.

The Big Red can take the title by heating Army twice today and Navy later this week. One loss will necessitate a Cornell-Harvard playoff. If Navy wins its next three, the Middies will also tie for the title and a three-way playoff will result.

Columbia showed up in Cambridge with one of the poorest hitting attacks in the League. But after Harvard jumped off to a three-run lead on the strength of two straight run-producing hits by Vince McGugan, the Lions went to work on Harvard starter Bill Kelly in the third inning.

Three straight wind-blown Columbia hits and a walk produced three runs to tie the game. Then, with two men on, Kelly grooved a pitch to Paul Kaliades that the Lion outfielder sent out toward Watson Rink.

With the pressure on the Crimson to win one out of two against Princeton to clinch a tie for the Eastern League title. Harvard folded miserably.

The Crimson led early in the first game by virtue of a solo home run by Pete Varney in the second inning and two unearned runs in the third.

Princeton managed to tie the game in the fifth as the Tigers bunched together four singles and a triple by first baseman Doug Blake, but Harvard retaliated with three runs of its own in the bottom of the inning.

But theTigers came back in the top of the sixth, sending 11 men to the plate and scoring six runs. Four straight hits set the stage for Tiger outfielder Ray Huard, who tagged a Phil Collins pitch over the fence for two runs.

Dave Ignacio, who made a dive for the ball in centerfield, went over the fence with it.

The second game was no better as J. C. Nickens walked across a run in the first. With the bases still loaded, Huard stepped to the plate and after getting two strikes, connected on a Nickens' fastball.

The drive carried over the centerfield wall and Princeton had a five-run lead. At this point, the wind and rain convinced the fans there were other things to do, and the stands emptied.