Spring Sports

The Dartmouth varsity baseball team won two of its final four games, losing to Colby, 4-3, and a league encounter to Yale 2-0, then winning over Amherst 13-4 and Vermont 8-7. The Big Green compiled an overall record of 11 wins against 15 defeats, while in Ivy League play it won three and lost six for a seventh-place berth.

League statistics show Dartmouth doing only fair, with just two hitters among the top 27 in the league. Outfielder Bill Beagle ranked 17th with a .294 average and Dartmouth's shortstop and 1956 captain, George Becker, was 27th with a .258 average. Becker also collected four doubles to tie Columbia's Claude Behman in this department.

Two Dartmouth hurlers ranked among the top 15 in the league. The Indians' top pitcher, Captain Bob Feltman, ranked second and John Meier 15th. Feltman pitched five Ivy games, completing and winning three and losing two. He tossed a total of 43 innings, allowing 23 hits, walking 14 players and striking out. 26 for an earned-run average of 0.93. Meier pitched three complete Ivy contests, winning one and losing two. He pitched 21 innings, gave up 22 hits and nine bases on balls for an earned-run average of 5.94.

Dartmouth's team batting average in league games was a rather low .215, which put the Indians in seventh place, while die team's fielding average of .949 was good for fifth place.

The Dartmouth varsity tennis team under Coach Red Hoehn finished the season in a rush by defeating Amherst 7-2, Williams 5-4, Army 7-2 and Middlebury 5-4, to complete the year with a record of 11 wins against six defeats. Dartmouth had little trouble against Amherst, Army or Middlebury, but the Williams match was one of the closest all year. Captain Dan Anzel, playing number one, pulled the upset of the day when he defeated Bill Cullen, number one player for Williams and the current New England intercollegiate singles champion. Cullen had been defeated only once prior to his loss to Anzel. Playing behind Anzel throughout most of the season were Dave Kerr, 1956 captain-elect, Tony Gale, Fred Darche, Bob Smith and Pete Buswell.

In track, Dartmouth wound up its dualmeet season by troinping Brown 103½-36½ at Memorial Field, to compile a record of two wins against one defeat in dual competition. The Indians swept 12 of 15 possible first places with Dud Heath winning the 440-yard race, John Harlor and Bill Springer tying for first place in the broad jump, Irv Phillips taking the 100-yard dash, Bob Sterling the 120-yard high hurdles, Dick Fairley (as usual) the high jump, George Bixby the discus, Doug Brew the half-mile, Gary Gilson the 220-yard dash, and Skip Meneely the javelin, with Lou Metzger and Bill Buchanan soaring 13 feet in the pole vault.

Coach Ellie Noyes entered his two best middle-distance men, Pete Jebsen and Doug Brew, in the IC4A half-mile race in New York in competition with the best runners in the nation. Jebsen, off to a fast start, held an early lead but could not keep the pace and dropped back to finish well down. Brew, however, picked up where his teammate left off and came up from the pack to take a third place in this race and give Dartmouth six points in the meet. Only a sophomore, Brew may well develop into a top collegiate track star in the remaining seasons.

Coach Tom Dent's varsity lacrosse team wound up its 1955 season by defeating M.I.T., 8-5, and Williams, 19-5, for a season record of seven wins and five defeats and a 6-2 record since the spring trip. Captain Ray Lenhard was the big gun in both games, collecting three goals and two assists against M.I.T. and five goals and four assists against Williams, to become Dartmouth's top scorer for the season. The lacrosse team was hampered by early injuries, but came back strong in the end. The overall record does not indicate the strength of this team.

Top spring team was the varsity golf squad under Coach Tom Keane. The golfers wound up the season by defeating the University of Massachusetts, 8-1, and the University of Vermont, 6-3, but lost the finale to Siena College, 16-11, for a season record of 15 wins and only five defeats. In the Massachusetts match, Fred Oman posted a 69, low score for the season. Against Siena, Oman, Don Purple and Dick Drake could not play because of hour exams and this weakened the Big Green team to a large extent. Captain Al Anderson, Don Kurth and Dick Drake are all lost by graduation, but the returning veterans together with some promising sophomores and juniors leave Coach Keane with an excellent nucleus for a strong team next spring.

GEORGE BECKER '56 of Blue Point, N. Y., shortstop, will be captain of the Dartmouth baseball team next spring.