Baseball
A lack of hitting power and a generally weak and undependable mound staff have prevented Coach Bob Shawkey's second Dartmouth baseball team from turning in little better than a mediocre season. The overall record shows seven wins and four defeats, while in the Eastern Intercollegiate Baseball League, Dartmouth is currently in fourth place with five wins against three defeats. The Dartmouth batting averages to date show only three men hitting above the .300 mark and only one player in the .250 to .300 range. Sophomore outfielder John Stoughton, who was out the first part of the season with a sore arm, leads the Indian batters with a .424 average on 14 hits in 33 times at bat. Bob McGrath, Dartmouth's flashy second baseman and leadoff hitter, has a .378 average, while cleanup hitter Buzz D'Avanzo is batting at a .346 clip. From here on the averages fall off sharply, with first baseman Bill Beck hitting .258, followed by sophomore centerfielder Doug Melville with .226 and the other outfielder, John Mansfield, with .226. Extrabase clouts have been relatively scarce and this, coupled with the fact that only two Dartmouth pitchers, Captain Pete Mackinnon and Mike Mac Donald, have been able to go the distance, has been the main reason for Dartmouth's missing out on a chance to take over first place in the league.
The most recent league contests, against Princeton and Yale, were typical of how things have been going all season with the Big Green nine. In the Princeton contest, Captain Pete Mackinnon started on the mound for Dartmouth. The tall right hander had difficulty with his control from the start and in the first inning the Tigers scored two runs on two walks and four hits. However, Princeton's starter, Al Bryant, was no better and the Indians pounced on him for five hits including a double by Lefty Terrill for four runs in the first inning. From there on Mackinnon tightened up, allowing only one hit in eight innings, while the Princeton hurler, Joe Castle, who replaced Bryant scattered six Dartmouth hits for two runs. Mackinnon got into trouble in several innings, chiefly by issuing too many walks but managed to keep ahead with the help of some fine fielding. He was lifted in the ninth for Mike MacDonald who proceeded to fill the bases and walk in one run before a timely double play and a boner by Princeton's Rockey Millard who, thinking he was being forced by a walk, strolled towards home plate only to be tossed out easily, gave Dartmouth the game.
Three days earlier in an important league game with Yale, Dartmouth had more difficulty and lost by a 4-2 count. Dartmouth southpaw Dick Major lacked control and most of the men he walked ultimately scored. Yale went ahead 2-1 in the third inning and the Indians tied it up in the fourth, but in the last of the fourth, a walk, a stolen base and two successive singles gave the Elis a 4-2 lead. The game finally was called in the seventh inning because of rain and the Big Green had lost the opportunity to move up into the first division in the league.
In the same week, Dartmouth defeated New Hampshire 3-0 in a ten-inning contest, but was vanquished by the Holy Cross Crusaders 12-0. Prior to these games the Big Green had won four contests in a row since May 1, defeating Columbia 7-2, Williams 12-1, Cornell 8-5 and Navy 6-5.
This year's Dartmouth team is a hustling squad and it must be said that Coach Bob Shawkey squeezed the absolute maximum out of his material and through shrewd judgment managed to help the Indians to some victories which could well have gone the other way. Lack of manpower has hurt the Dartmouth team throughout the season, but no one can deny that they have turned in a creditable performance all the way. With a squad composed of a number of sophomores and juniors, it may well be that the Big Green will head the league in 1954.
