Yardling Batmen Show Power, Take Two at Brown, 5-4, 8-0

Strong hitting and a pitching show that featured Mark Linehan's one-hit shutout performance propelled the Harvard freshman baseball team as the Yardling nine swept a doubleheader from a strong Brown club, 5-4 and 8-0.

The Crimson Yardlings exploded for three runs in the third inning of the first game to blast open the scoreless game. Brown came back though in the bottom of the sixth to pull itself even with the Crimson, knotting the score at 4-4.

With two outs in the top of the seventh and last inning and the score tied, Fred Chicos beat the Bruin freshmen to their chance for winning as he punched out a key double. Fran Cronin then brought Chicos the rest of the way around the basepaths with a double that put the game away, 5-4.

The story of the second game was the pitching. Harvard pitcher Linehan held the Bruins to one-hit ball in his five-inning hurling stint. Ted Feldman came in with a sterling relief job, allowing only one hit, to preserve the shutout.

The powerful Crimson artillery brought out even bigger guns for the second game, unleashing a 15-hit barrage. Bill Larkin carried the big bat for the Yardlings in that game as he blasted three hits and garnered three RBIs in his four trips to the plate. The onslaught saw six men slam extra-base hits. The scoring parade would have been even bigger had the Crimson not left a whopping 13 men stranded on the basepaths.

The Yardling nine struck in the top of the first for one run that proved to be all the margin necessary. The Crimson kept piling onto its lead as it tallied another run in the third before pounding out two runs in the fourth and three more in the fifth to put the game on ice.

The freshman nine's next game is Wednesday when they play host to Andover.