Baseball

Baseball coach Bob Shawkey arrived back in Hanover with a coat of tan, looking fit and trim, but his report on the southern trip and on the Big Green diamond squad was not encouraging.

"We had a rough trip," said Bob. "Lots of rain, then nine injuries to various players, and on top of that I found that I haven't anyone on the squad who seems to be able to hit. Our team batting average was way down and I'm afraid we'll have a rough time against any sort of pitching."

Shawkey does feel that the current squad will be faster and a better defensive unit than that of last year, but with poor hit- ting and a still questionable mound staff, Shawkey expects little improvement over last spring's record.

On the ten-day southern trip the Indians met nine opponents, seven of them service teams and emerged with three wins against six defeats. The Big Green lost the March 31 opener to the Norfolk Naval Air Station, 5-4, but on the following day, behind the hurling of sophomore ace Bob Feltman who struck out 13 in the six innings he worked, the Indians won 10-3 over the same club. The Norfolk Extension of William and Mary College defeated Dartmouth 7-3 on April 2, while the next afternoon the Big Green defeated the Norfolk Receiving Station 9-3 on the pitching of Bruce McIvor and Captain Pete Mackinnon. The next day Dartmouth repeated over Norfolk 10-5 southpaw Dick Major went all the way for the Indians, allowing only one earned run.

On April 5 and 6, the Dartmouth nine encountered potent opposition in the Naval Amphibious Base team at Little Creek, Va. The Amphibs, composed largely of college stars and semi-pro players, won by 12-1 and 87 scores. After these defeats the Dartmouth team lost 5-3 to Maryland on April 8 and by a 12-2 score to Boiling Field in Washington on April 10.

On the basis of these contests, Coach Shawkey named his starting lineup for the opener with Harvard on April 24 as follows and in the order they will hit: Doug Melville, a junior, in centerfield; veteran Don Swanson at shortstop; Bob McGrath, another letterman, at second base; Mario D'Avanzo, a senior, as catcher and cleanup batter; George Corbett, a junior, in right field; Dartmouth ski ace Bill Beck at first base; sophomore Larry Blades, who also plays basketball, at third base; John Stoughton, another sophomore, in left field; and Turner Austin, a senior, as starting pitcher.

The main reserves on the Dartmouth club appear to be Dick Batchelder, a sophomore shortstop; veteran Warren Cassidy, an all-around utility man; Dave Conlan, a sophomore first baseman; and sophomore John Mansfield in the outfield. Outfielder Tom McGreevey and infielders Bruce Haertl and Ray Durkee also have a crack at the starting lineup. The mound staff, headed by Captain Pete Mackinnon, whose arm seems to be improving, includes veterans Dick Major, Bruce McIvor and Mike McDonald with Bob Feltman, Don Belcher and Joel Shapiro. Rookie Bob Feltman, a tall right hander, has shown a lot of promise, but still is bothered with control.

If the mound staff can be tightened up and the team as a whole improved considerably in the hitting department, the 1953 Dartmouth baseball team could well make a close race of the Eastern Intercollegiate Baseball League. Otherwise the season will have to count as a rebuilding year.