Quest for 1974 District I Title Begins Tomorrow

It's tough to follow an act like last spring's Cinderella baseball story. A year ago, Harvard's Crimson squad ran up a phenomenal 35-3 record and nabbed an invitation to the Royal Ball of college baseball, the College World Series in Omaha, Neb.

And even though Harvard abruptly exited the festivities after a couple of quick dances with the regal competition in Omaha, no one can really fault the Crimson because it couldn't jam its feet into championship slippers. Harvard baseball '73 was a great story--the stuff that fairy tales are made of.

Out of the Ashes

But this year's Crimson combine might have the credentials to top the old show. Already Harvard has risen from the ash-heap to scratch and claw its way into the NCAA District I playoffs, and win its fourth-straight EIBL title.

Harvard did it with a frantic 11 for 12 blitz of the last dozen contests, including seven of eight in the last week and a three-game sweep of Penn (2) and Princeton when the chips were on the line.

Well, if all this achievement isn't to turn into a pumpkin, Harvard must come up with another pressure performance in the District I playoffs which begin tomorrow noon when the Crimson meets Providence.

Battle for Omaha

The Crimson, Friars and University of New Hampshire Wildcats, will go at each other for three days in double elimination competition, with the survivor moving on to Omaha.

Harvard again has the most glittering record of the playoff participants, with 28 wins against only nine setbacks (11-4 in EIBL and 7-1 in Greater Boston play). Providence, boasting a 17-7 record, is making its seventh playoff appearance in the last ten years although the Friars have never won a trip to the World Series. Darkhorse UNH, has a 15-6 record on the season.

The strongest challenge to a second-straight Harvard trip to Omaha is likely to come from Providence, a team that some oddsmakers have made the District I favorite. The Friars boast a strong pitching staff, a murderous hitting attack, and have the memory of being drubbed, 8-1, by the Crimson in last year's District I face off to spur them on.

Down to Basics

Providence coach Alex Nahigian likes to play basic baseball: hit-and-run, sacrifice, execute the fundamentals. But this year Providence has hitting too. Over the season the Friars have tattooed the ball at a .312 clip as a team and boast seven hitters--the two to eight men in the batting order--hitting over .317.

Freshman Joe Maroccio leads the Friar offense with a glittering .389 batting average and is closely followed by Barry Sullivan at .372, Ted Barette at .369, and Steve Allietta at .366. Sullivan and Barette are the big run producers with 27 and 26 RBIs, respectively, and four home runs apiece.

"In a tournament like this, each team has to come up with two people who have the hot bat," Nahigian says. "This year we have seven kids capable of getting hot."

To complement the strong hitting Nahigian can call on Phil Welch and Mike O'Connell off the rubber. Welch, who will get the starting nod against Harvard tomorrow, has been Providence's money pitcher all year, winning five without a defeat and posting a 0.68 earned run average. O'Connell, number two Friar on the mound, is 2-0 with an 0.53 ERA.

A Tough Club

Harvard coach Loyal Park is wary of the combination of hitting and pitching that the Friars can throw at an opponent. "We've beaten them the last two years," Park said yesterday. "You have to wonder about the law of averages. They're a real good ball club, a veteran ball club. Their boys have been in this thing the last three years."

Few people know what to expect from New Hampshire. Only yesterday Park said that he knew little more about the Wildcats than the fact that they were in the tournament. Park said he was waiting for a scouting report on UNH, which he expected to arrive last night.

Mystery status notwithstanding, New Hampshire is, in the words of Wildcat coach Ted Conner, a team "about average in every respect, with no great strengths or real weaknesses." However, UNH can boast three outstanding hitters in Darryl Conte, Dave Bettencourt and Walter Benny, and Conner can call on a couple of solid pitchers in southpaw Bill Tufts and right-hander Buff Young.

Conte keys the New Hampshire attack and has outstanding power credentials. In 21 games he banged out seven home runs and amassed a whopping 32 RBIs. He also has four doubles and a triple to his credit and hit a torrid .373 during the regular season.

To complement the big bat of Conte, Conner has Bettencourt and Benny. Bettencourt boasts a .409 average with 14 RBIs while Benny has hit at a .353 clip with nine "ribbies."

Tufts is without question the ace of the Wildcat pitching staff with a 4-1 record and a 1.92 ERA. Behind him, Young has a 3-2 mark with 2.67 ERA.

Something Missing

"We just don't have the natural talent and ability that a Harvard or Providence has--at least not as much of it," Conner said yesterday. "We don't have pitchers who will throw no-hitters and we're not going to score 15 runs in a ballgame and win, 15-4. We're going to have to go out and play nine hard innings and not make any mistakes."

The key to the series for Harvard will be whether the Crimson pitchers, most notably Mike O'Malley and Don Driscoll, will be able to stifle the Providence firepower and shut off the long ball of UNH's Conte. Time and again down the EIBL stretch, Harvard's pitching staff came up with big performances, despite the plethora of doubleheaders during that stretch run.

Final Exam Headache

A more immediate headache for Park has been the fact that with final examinations in full swing, Crimson practice sessions have been somewhat haphazard. "We haven't had the whole team together since we won against Princeton," Park said yesterday. "Today I only have five players at practice. We have some guys who won't have practiced at all since the last ballgame."

So the pressure is on once again for the Crimson baseball team. And while lack of practice and exam-period blues may hurt Harvard's chances, the Crimson have been playing--and succeeding--with the odds stacked against them all season.

As UNH's Conner pointed out: "Harvard has had so many pressure games that they have had to win, that they have gotten used to pressure. That could be an advantage in a tournament like this."

And so the Cinderella story unfolds a little further. The coach is waiting.