BASEBALL

The Baseball Team, which a month ago downed Harvard, 5-2, for its fifth straight Eastern Intercollegiate League victory, suddenly went into a decline that saw it lose six out of its last nine games. Included among these losses were four straight defeats at the hands of Yale, Cornell, Brown and Pennsylvania, eliminating Dartmouth from the title race. The three wins, all non-League encounters, were a 6-5 decision over Colgate, a 4-2 triumph over Tufts and a 4-1 victory in a second game with Pennsylvania.

Main factor in the team's sudden collapse was a frustrating batting slump. The team as a whole seemed to lose its power at the plate and the timely safeties that were winning games earlier in the season became almost totally absent. Not until the first Penn game, played before a large commencement throng, did the Big Green regain its collective batting eye. But, unfortunately, Dartmouth pitching collapsed before a Penn onslaught and the Indians went down to a 14-10 defeat.

Coach Eddie Jeremiah switched his batting order several times during the long slump and shuffled his pitchers to no avail. The breaks that were Dartmouth's at the season's start were helping the opposition at the close of the year. Everything seemed to go against the Indians, who kept plugging away in vain. It was a sad ending to what appeared earlier to be an easy conquest of a second straight championship. The Big Green players and their coach were a disappointed lot as the league season ended.

A few bright spots were evident, however, in the overall picture. Sophomore outfielder Whit Williams and sophomore catcher John Boardman showed evidence of real ability at the plate and should be a big help next year. Both were hitting well over the .300 mark at this writing. Catcher Roger Frechette, a valiant figure all season, also hit over .300, as did left fielder Hank Mueller. Sophomore shortstop Ray Lindquist played a great game against Pennsylvania as he cracked out two singles and a triple and fielded his position perfectly.

Frechette, a New Haven boy, was elected to the captaincy for 1950 following the Pennsylvania game, succeeding Dartmouth's star second baseman Eddie McNeil. The latter has been a bulwark of the team for four years and will leave a big hole next season. Mueller, another senior, was honored after the final league contest by receiving the James Henry Cooke Trophy as "the member of the senior class who has done most for baseball at Dartmouth during his undergraduate days." The award is presented annually in memory of Jim Cooke, Dartmouth baseball manager in 1940, who died in a Japanese prison camp in 1943.

Other seniors who have played their last for Dartmouth are third baseman Dick Desmond, who hit over .300 for the season; pitcher Bob Amirault, winner of three important games this year, and Al Quirk, who also won three games this season on the mound. These are important losses and all will be difficult to replace next season. Regulars returning are shortstop Lindquist, first baseman Bill Ferguson, catcher Frechette, outfielders Joe Dey and Bob Matthews, and pitchers Emil Hudak, George Bissell, Bill West and Jack Sutton.