Teams Prepare for Busy Weekend

And you thought you had a lot to do this weekend?

As the weather continues to warm up--sort of--the spring sports seasons are in full swing, and several Harvard teams have important games this weekend.

Baseball

The baseball team (13-10 overall, 6-2 Ivy League) has perhaps the busiest weekend, as it hosts two doubleheaders against Yale.

The Elis are undefeated in Ivy League play and are currently leading the league's Red Rolfe division, which also includes the Crimson.

A big weekend would help the Crimson in its pursuit of a second-straight division title.

After a heart-breaking loss to Princeton last weekend, Harvard's bats came alive, as the Crimson scored 23 runs in splitting a pair of games this week.

The Crimson-Eli matchup should be interesting this weekend, as Yale has one of the league's best pitching staffs.

Harvard also needs its pitching staff to step up, as several hurlers will likely be used in the four game set.

"We just need to keep doing what we've been doing," said sophomore Andrew Duffell. "We need to keep are bats going and get solid pitching performances because Yale's a tough team."

Men's Lacrosse

The men's lacrosse team (5-4, 3-1 Ivy League), ranked 18th in the nation, will be looking to get back on track after its loss earlier this week to UMass, when it plays Yale (2-6, 0-2) today.

Harvard will be without its leading scorer in junior attackman Mike Ferrucci, who is out with a ligament injur (ACL). With Ferrucci sidelined, the Crimson will need big performances from juniors Jim Bevilacqua, Doug Crofton and Owen Leary if they are going to hold off the Bulldogs.

"Yale is hot right now," senior goaltender Rob Lyng said. "They are a relaxed team, and they have a great coach."

With Ferrucci likely out for the rest of the season, he became part of a long list of injured players. As a result, Harvard will have to experiment with some new lineups when its battles Yale.

"This week in practice we put some different guys in new places," Lyng said. "We tried some new arrangements to get people comfortable before Yale."

Without Ferrucci, it will be especially important for the Crimson to get to the loose balls and get the hustle points, something the team failed to do in its loss to the Minutemen.

"To win the game, we need to put forth the effort," said junior Jim Bevilacqua. "We have to control the ground balls."

Although the Crimson is ranked second in the Ivy League, it can't afford to overlook the Elis, who are currently in the basement of the Ancient Eight.

"They match up pretty well against us, especially if we don't have Ferrucci," Bevilacqua said.

"We need to be mentally ready," Lyng added.

Softball

This Saturday, the softball team (19-15-1, 1-3) will try to do something it has never done before--beat Princeton.

The league-leading and defending league champion Tigers (17-16, 2-0), will be in town this afternoon for a twinbill with the Crimson.

Princeton has two of the league's top pitchers, and the second leading batter.

Harvard counters with co-captain Katina Lee (.368 batting average) and senior Melissa Kreuder (.337), who are ranked sixth and eighth in the league in hitting, respectively.

The Crimson is hoping to use the doubleheader against the Tigers to get back into the Ivy League race, in which it is currently fifth, and send a message to the rest of the league.

As anti-climatic as it may be, Harvard wraps up the weekend with a pair of games at Vermont on Sunday.

Men's and Women's Crew

The Harvard and Radcliffe crews will also be busy this weekend as all four crews travel to races away from the familiarity of the Charles River.

The men's heavyweight crew will attempt to rebound from a tough loss to Brown last weekend when it travels to New Jersey to take on Princeton and MIT.

The men's lightweight squad travels to Anapolis to challenge Navy. The first varsity boat defeated MIT and Dartmouth last weeekend and is looking to stay on a roll.

The Radcliffe heavyweight crew will face off with Syracuse and Ivy League foe Dartmouth in New Hampshire.

The defending national champion Radcliffe lightweight team will also travel to Dartmouth, but will only face Syracuse in a neutral site race.