Cornell Dims Crimson Nine's EIBL Title Hopes

The Cornell baseball team came up with two runs in the eighth inning to overcome the Crimson by a 4-2 margin yesterday at Ithaca and further dampen Harvard's chances to defend the Eastern Intercollegiate Baseball League title.

The Crimson nine took a quick 1-0 lead in the first inning when Jim Thomas singled, Ed Durse sacrificed him to second and Leigh Hogan scratched an infield single, Thomas scoring on a throwing error.

In the second, the Crimson made it 2-0 as Don Driscoll picked up an infield single, Fran Cronin sacrificed him to second, and captain Dan Williams brought him home with a clean single to center field.

Wrapping It Up

Cornell, however, came up with two single tallies in the second and third frames to tie the contest at two apiece, and then put the game away in the eighth when it bunched three hits off losing pitcher Milt Holt.

With one out in that disastrous eighth, Shane St. Clair reached first on a scratch single that trickled past third baseman Fran Cronin. Ken Zend then drilled Holt's third pitch over the left field fence on one hop for a ground rule double, St. Clair going to third on the play.

The Big Red's Jim Dobins then smashed a clean single to center field, scoring both runs and giving Cornell the victory, Holt avoided further trouble in the inning by inducing a double play ball on the next pitch.

The bright spot for the Crimson was the play of Leigh Hogan. Hogan, who led the Crimson last year in batting, was two-for-four yesterday with a double to bring his current mark up to 445.

Slap Me Some Iron

The Crimson's problem, though, was six infield errors, three of which were partly responsible for Cornell's first two runs. Cornell committed three errors in the contest.

The loss drops the Crimson's EIBL record to 4-3, while league-leading Pennsylvania holds an 8-1 mark, and Princeton is second with a 4-1 slate. Cornell now stands at 4-6.

Last year, the Crimson squad seemed out of contention for the title with six games to play, but miraculously swept two double-headers from Penn and Princeton to snatch the crown from the Quakers on the last day of the EIBL season.

This year the team has already lost to the Quakers, and will not have another chance to face them. If Harvard is to defend its title, it must win the rest of its games, and then hope that Penn and the Tigers are upset by the weaker EIBL teams.

Today, the Crimson nine will travel to Army to take on the Cadets, who boast a mediocre 1-4 mark in league play. Their next game is a non-league contest with B.C. on Tuesday at Alumni Field.