Batsmen Break Even

In its first four games of action in the Eastern Intercollegiate Baseball League, the Harvard baseball team split doubleheaders at Yale and Brown this weekend, winning the nightcap against the Elis and the opening game against the Bruins.

Harvard is now 6-4 overall, with a 2-2 record in the EIBL.

Yale 3, Harvard 0

In the opener in New Haven, Harvard managed only four hits off Bulldog pitcher Bob Shoop, who raised his record to 5-2 with his fourth complete game of the season.

But Crimson hurler Doug Sutton, in his first loss against two wins, was just as sharp (if not more so), giving up just five hits and one earned run.

Yale scored its unearned runs in the third inning, when Captain Kevin Moran--capitalizing on two previous Harvard errors--stroked an RBI single to right field. Jim Slezak, the Eli runner on second base, slid home and barely beat first baseman Frank Morelli's relay throw to the plate.

Moran scored the team's second run on a basehit to left field by Jon Saadey.

Although Harvard put its first runner on in five out of the seven innings, two double plays and a fine play by left fielder Slezak enabled Shoop to maintain his shutout.

With Crimson players Chris McAndrews and Mike Pakalnis on base in the seventh, Morelli launched a shot to deep left field--deep enough to draw the Crimson bench out of its dugout in anticipation of a game-tying homer.

But Slezak sprinted back, lunged, and grabbed the ball in mid-air on the warning track.

Morelli's hit was one of the few that Eli fielders had to chase; most Crimson connections, although well-hit, went right into Bulldog gloves.

Bob Kay and Paul Vallone, for instance, made solid contact with Shoop's pitches, but their trajectories were driven directly to Yalie out-fielders.

The 3-0 loss represented the Crimson's first shutout since early 1983.

Harvard 6, Yale 5

The Crimson ended its temporary scoring drought by tallying three runs in the first inning of the nightcap, but it took a single by Kay in the eighth to win the game for the visitors.

Drilling his second homer in four games, catcher Jim DePalo rocketed a first-inning pitch from Vic Forte over the right field wall for Harvard's first two runs of the game.

Two batters later, Mike Pakalnis doubled in the gap, driving home McAndrews, who was running on the pitch.

But an Eli sweep became a distinct possibility when the Bulldogs scored four times in the bottom of the inning.

Crimson hurler Mike Presz (now 1-0), who threw four innings against Providence last Tuesday, was battered in the opening frame by Saadey (with his 19th RBI of the season), Greg Mihalik (doubling in a run), and John Brandt (RBI single to right).

Brandt--one of five freshmen in the Yale starting line-up--added an RBI single in the third inning, but Presz allowed only five hits after the disastrous first inning.

"I was just trying to keep us in the game," Presz said. "I knew we'd score runs, and it was just a matter of time."

But Presz had to wait until the seventh because Harvard--despite stolen bases by Kay, McAndrews, and DePalo, and two perfectly-executed sacrifices by Dave Jamieson--couldn't score in the middle innings.

Forte ended up stranding 10 Crimson baserunners through the seventh inning, after allowing the first batter to reach base in five of those frames.

With one out in the seventh, though, the relentless Crimson squad--confronted with the possibility of losing both ends of a doubleheader for the first time since early 1982--earned its reputation as the present-day Cardiac Kids.

Kay--on base with a walk--scored from third on an error by the Eli shortstop, who threw past the first baseman on Pakalnis's grounder. Morelli followed with a game-tying single up the middle, delivering DePalo from third.

The failure of the Bulldogs to score in the bottom of the inning sent the contest into extra frames.

Pat Sullivan, pinch-running for Paul Vallone, advanced to second on Frank Caprio's sacrifice--Harvard's fourth of the day--and scored on Kay's single to left field.

Crimson reliever Jim Chenevey picked up the save.

Harvard 6, Brown 2

Pity the inhabitants of the houses along the street just behind the left-field wall.

If they were enjoying a fine Sunday brunch yesterday, they were rudely interrupted by Crimson homers in the first two innings.

Morelli (in the first) and Pakalnis (in the second) tagged Bruin starting hurler Danny Rice for solo shots that bounced in front of two pseudo-Victorian houses.

Their homers gave Crimson hurler Chris Marchok an early 2-0 lead.

Marchok, now 1-0, struck out seven Bruin batters and allowed only six hits en route to a sparkling complete-game performance.

"I definitely wanted to keep it [the ball] low because they're a good-hitting ball club," Marchok said. Consequently, 12 of the 21 outs the Crimson recorded came on infield ground balls.

"He [Marchok] was excellent," Brown Coach Dave Stenhouse said. "He has great mechanics and a good, lively fastball."

The junior southpaw was supported by nearly-impeccable Crimson defense and more scoring production.

Third-baseman Jamieson, in his first weekend of varsity intercollegiate competition, succeeded on all five chances at the hot corner. Freshman Rich Renninger also contributed with solid defense, stretching and digging throws out of the dirt.

Harvard added runs in the fifth, sixth, and seventh innings, including one on an RBI single by Pakalnis (two-for-three in the game) and a two-run single from DePalo.

Brown 10, Harvard 3

The Crimson, relying on four singles and two stolen bases, scored thrice in the first inning off pitcher Jim Duchesneau to improve its chances for a sweep.

But the Bruins came roaring back in the bottom of the inning, as the Yalies had the previous day.

All but two hitters in the Brown starting line-up (which had seven lefties to counter the right-handed Kevin Curtin) collected one or more hits in the night-cap.

Curtin, who entered the contest with a 1-1 mark, was shaken by Bruin batting for three runs off four hits in the first inning alone. He encountered no trouble over the next three innings--fanning five Bruins in that span--but departed the game in the fifth after surrendering three additional runs.

The scrappy Brown squad rocked reliever Greg Ubert in the sixth, scoring on a walk, three hits, and two errors.

Leading the Bruin surge were Scott Simpson (three-for-three, two runs and two RBI) and Tom Klaff (two-for-four, two RBI).

Brown is now 13-9 overall with an EIBL mark of 3-5.

THE NOTEBOOK: In the Yale doubleheader, Catcher Jim DePalo went four-for-six at the plate while throwing out two runners and tagging out a runner who bowled into him, attempting to score...Harvard left 17 men on base in Saturday's two games...Through Harvard's 10 games, the Crimson has stolen 27 bases--led by DePalo with 10 and Kay with seven thefts.