Baseball Wins Pair To Clinch League Title

They have more hits than the Beatles, the same record as the Detroit Tigers and now they have their second straight Eastern Intercollegiate Baseball League championship.

The Harvard baseball team had it all yesterday especially the hits--as it swept Princeton, 15-7, 13-2, at Soldiers Field to clinch a berth in the NCAA Northeast Regional the weekend of May 26. The twin-killing upped the Crimson's record to 24-4, 13-3 in Eastern League play.

Harvard's 13th Eastern League title and its eighth in 14 seasons came in what looked to be a rebuilding year, with eight seniors gone from the 1983 titlists. The heart of the line-up was lost to graduation--hitters three, four, five, and six with 25 of the team's 42 homers, more than half its RBI and the four best batting averages among regulars.

Two of the team's four starting pitchers and its ace reliever also wore mortarboards June 9, 1983. It looked like this year's squad was in a jam. It wasn't.

While the 1983 Crimson (27-8) clinched the title in the final game, the 1984 batmen did it with three to spare; last year's squad hit .304, 10 points lower than the current edition. And this year's team has had speed, with 62 steals so far compared to just 25 last season.

"We're just as good a team as we were last year," Captain Bruce Weller said. And with this year's speed, "we can score runs out of nowhere, phantom runs out of walks, stolen bases, ground outs," the Harvard career leader in runs scored (130) added.

"I've never seen a team hit the ball as well as we have these last few games," designated hitter Mickey Maspons said. "I think we're peaking now. I just hope it gets us to Omaha [site of the College World Series]."

Maspons, the team's leading hitter in league games (.471), went five for eight yesterday with three doubles. Freshman catcher Jim DePalo (.368 overall) extended his hitting string to 12 games with his five-for-seven, five-RBI outing. Sophomore third baseman Bobby Kay (.326) socked three doubles and a triple. The list goes on.

Everybody's hitting, from the first baseman Elliott Rivers (376. seven homers, 34 RBI) on down Strangest of all, the power is still there. Every Starter has at least one round tripper to his credit Weller and shortstop Tony DiCesare, who each had just one later last season, both homered yesterday, bringing their respective totals to five and four.

Why the brilliant play from a team that lost so much to graduation Most of the players cited a sense of togetherness not found last season. "This team is closer with each other," Rivera said. "Last year [with eight seniors and seven sophomores] there were separate groups [The togetherness] helps us play better."

It hasn't all been hitting, through the staff ERA has risen from 3.72 in 1983 to 4.29 now Junior Charlie Marchese (6-0, 267 ERA) yielded a three-run, wind-added blast in the first inning of the opener, but Harvard got all three runs back on a two-out rally in the bottom of the inning. The Crimson sent eight men to the plate again in the second, and Marchese took a 7-3 lead into the top of the third Marchese contained the Tigers, freshman Chris Marchok tidied things up--four straight strikeouts, no earned runs--and the blowout was on.

Eastern League title firmly tucked away, the Crimson let loose again. Amidst all the Harvard offense, junior Jeff Musselman tossed one of his best games of the season, a five-hitter.

THE NOTEBOOK Second baseman Gaylord Lyman hyperextended his knee in Sunday's sweep of Army. He hopes to be back in time for Saturday's twin bill with Dartmouth A bad-hop batting-practice grounder shattered the nose of back-up-infielder Mike Pakalnis Tuesday. He'll be back Saturday, too. As a result junior T.J. Andre played second... The NCAA will select a site for the Northeast Regional after the rest of the entrants qualify Last year's tourney, held at Maine's Mahaney Diamond, drew more than 5000 paying spectators, it Maine wins the ECAC New England division, it will likely host the tournament again. "The NCAA likes to select a site where they'll draw." Crimson Coach Alex Nahigian said. Last year Nahigian told his team on its spring break Florida trip that it would win the championship. This year? "I told them they could win it if they played with intensity, gave us dedication on and off the field and played as a team." They've done all three.

EIBL Standings  W  L  T  Pct.  GBHARVARD  13  3  0  .813  --Yale  11  7  0  .611  3Cornell  11  7  0  .611  3Navy  9  7  0  .563  4Columbia  10  8  0  .556  4Brown  9  9  0  .500  5Princeton  9  9  0  .500  5Dartmouth  6  8  0  .429  6Pennsylvania  6  12  0  .333  8Army  2  16  0  .111  1