Pitchers Carry Harvard's Title Hopes

Four good arms can beat one great arm.

Not every time, but often enough.

At least that's what the Harvard baseball team is hoping. Although the stud pitchers--Columbia's Kurt Lundgren, Cornell's Greg Myers. Navy's Jim McMurtry--toil else-where in the Eastern League, no squad has a staff as deep, from top to bottom, as Alex Nahigian's Crimson. And with the revamped EIBL schedule calling for back-to-back, weekend double-headers, every team will have to unearth a fourth starter and third reliever every Sunday.

Those sixth and seventh pitchers could be the keys to a successful season for more than one Eastern League club.

In addition to the 10-team EIBL, which includes the Ivies plus Army and Navy, the Crimson will again be competing in the Greater Boston League this season, with games scheduled against MIT, Northeastern, Brandeis. Boston College and Tufts. Last year's disappointing 17-14 overall record, which included a 6-7 EIBL mark (fifth-place tie) featured a GBL championship, and this season's entry is favored to repeat, with a challenge from Pete Varney's Brandeis squad and the scrappy Tufts Jumbos.

Add independent outings against UMass. UConn. Holy Cross and Rhode Island, and the recently completed Florida trip, and Harvard will play a total of 41 games this season not counting any playoff action--the most in recent memory.

Here is a capsule rundown on the squad:

PITCHING: Last year's team earned run average ballooned from one of the EIBL's best in '80 to a miserable 5.01, with control problems and erratic fielding at the heart of the problem. That trend will obviously have to be reversed if Harvard is to contend.

The Big Four from last season--juniors Bill Larson (5-2, 4.90). Billy Doyle (4-1, 6.18), and Greg Brown (3-3, 3.83), and senior Jim Curtin (2-2, 3.99) are all back--along with bullpen specialists Mike Smerczynski (3-2, 5.61) and John Sorich (0-0, 2.98).

Brown, the giant-sized righthander who tossed both of Harvard's shutouts last season, including a 4-0 no-hitter against Penn, was the squad's most consistent starter a year ago and has the potential to become one of the league's stronger hurlers.

Doyle, whose 32 walks pace a staff that issued 158 passes in 255 innings, and Larson, who looked brilliant in his early outings a year ago but was hit hard later one, are both being counted on to return to their 1980 form, when they helped the team to within one game of the College World Series.

The two can obviously pitch well: Doyle racked six impressive wins pitching for Yarmouth-Dennis in Cape Cod this summer and has looked good so far this spring, while Larson, a varsity hockey player, did not make the trip south but threw exceptionally well in a simulated game at Briggs Cage yesterday. He has won more games over the past two years than any other Crimson pitcher.

Just One Southpaw

The fourth starter, and only lefthander of the quartet, is Jim Curtin. The Burlington native didn't finish any of his seven starts last season and walked twice as many batters as he struck out, but he has a live arm and can be as effective as anyone on the team when he throws strikes.

With Smerczynski, a fastballer, and Sorich, a knuckle-curve artist, expected to man the bullpen at least in the early going, the spot starters will come from a group of three freshmen. Jeff Musselman. Charlie Marchese and Cecil Cox, who beat out returnees Brad Zlotnick and Dave Wanger for places on the Florida trip.

While Cox may prove to have the best arm in the long run, he has been hampered by injuries all year and the early not will probably go to Musselman, who wowed the squad in his first simulated outing at Briggs and has thrown fairly consistently since.

CATCHING: Joe Wark, last year's captain and a superb defensive catcher, has graduated, and junior Vinnie Martelli inherits the spot. The squad's top all-around hitter a year ago. Martelli has spent time at designated hitter, first base and in the outfield the past two seasons, but his first love, and best position, is behind the plate.

While his ability as a receiver may be a shade below Wark's, Martelli's arm is nearly as strong, and there is no comparison at the plate. The Revere native came within five runs batted in of breaking Mike Stenhouse's single-season mark of 40 last year, hitting 336 and swatting four homers and a team-leading six triples. Behind Martelli is sophomore Kevin Lennon, a strong fielder but weak at bat, and hard-hitting freshman Mickey Maspons.

INFIELD: Unquestionably the deepest in recent years, this bunch will likely rival the pennant-winning infield of 1980 in skill by season's end.

Only Brad Bauer: Harvard's starting shortstop since he stepped on the field two years ago, returns from that crew, and the junior will be moving elsewhere this season. He may end up at second or third, but a spot will have to be found for the pro prospect who hit 317 last year and pounded out 13 extrabase hits to win a spot on the EIBL, first-team.

Two freshmen, third baseman Scott Vierra and shortstop Tony (Coots) DiCesare, and a sophomore, second baseman Gaylord Lyman, will be worked around Bauer, manning whichever spots he doesn't. Bauer will probably open the season replacing the slick-fielding but weak-hitting (.170, two RBIs in 88 at bats) Lyman at second, and stay or move depending on Vierra's progress.

DiCesare, a quarterback on the freshman football team, won himself a spot in the starting lineup by fielding well in Florida and making good contact at bat all spring.

Nahigian has no hesitations about manning the left side of the infield with two freshmen, so if highly recruited Vierra can stay healthy (a recurring back problem has sidelined him periodically) and get hot at the plate. Bauer will remain at second. If not, look for the shift to third.

After a year's absence. Eddie Farreil returns to Cambridge to anchor at first base Potentially the team's heaviest hitter. Farrell played for Orange Coast Community College in California last season, hitting in the high 360s in one of the nation's tougher circuits Newcomer Elliott Rivera will fill in any where in the infield, as well as contend for a spot in the outfield.

OUTFIELD: Harvard's most underrated player last year, sophomore Bruce Weller, stepped in for the departed Charlie Santos-Buch in center field and hit 309, amassing 19 walks and a team-leading six stolen bases. He also led Crimson outfielders in fielding percentage, playing the crater-laden Soldiers Field gardens as well as anyone who tried.

Weller will be flanked on the right by Donnie Allard, a comeback-of-the-year success story who raised his average 200 points from the previous campaign and belted a team-leading six homers.

Allard's defense also improved notably last season, and highlights include his four assists from the outfield to lead the team and a handful of sensational grabs, including a running catch of a Joel Mock liner to save Brown's no-hitter against Penn

Scheper Back

Paul Scheper returns in left field, but the fleet contact hitter will be pressed by freshmen Rivera and Chris Schindler. Scheper hit 267 in 75 at bats last year but managed only two extra-base hits while playing a solid left field Look for all three to see time in left field and elsewhere.

DESIGNATED HITTER: Senior Captain Paul Chicarello is unable to field any position, can't run well and hit a mediocre 295 a year ago, yet many people call him Harvard's most valuable player Why? The only real answer is intangibles not only is the Winthrop native the most intense competitor on the field, but his exceptional attitude and commitment seem to make everybody he plays with play better.

After tearing apart the junior varsity pitching his freshman year and sitting on the bench for all but the tail-end of his sophomore season. Chicarello burst into the headlines with a truly incredible performance in the Crimson's three-way playoff against Yale and Cornell two years ago.

Young Turks

Last season. he split his time between third base and designated hitter but will only play the field this season in an emergency and may be forced to split time at DH if he slumps. No matter--this fired-up baseball not would run the scoreboard if it helped the club.

OUTLOOK: As in previous years, the EIBL race will be a close one, and six teams have a shot at the title. The extended schedule should help Harvard, but the Crimson needs big years from a bunch of people to top talented Cornell and Navy, as well as defending champion Yale.

If two or three pitchers become constant winners and the rest are solid and if the defense--which has looked good so far--holds up, the Crimson will win the flag because the hitting is there. If the mound staff is unable to do better than last season's 5 01, however, the squad will be no better than third and could fall behind Yale, improving Princeton, Brown and dark-horse Columbia.

Watch for a complete EIBL preview next week.