Baseball

Because of inclement weather which cancelled three of the eleven scheduled games and held morning workouts down to only three days during the annual spring trip, the Dartmouth baseball team for 1956 is still a big question mark.

The Indians won only three games and lost five, but most of the teams they played had the benefit of outdoor workouts long before the Big Green arrived on the scene. The Indians opened with an 11-3 win over Howard University, bowed to a strong Maryland team 10-1, and split with Norfolk Naval Air Base, winning the first game 4-1 and losing the second 5-3. The Indians then divided honors with the Norfolk Fleet Service team, winning 5-4 and losing 18-9. They ended the trip by dropping two contests to the Quantico Marines by 10-2 and 10-0 scores. Games with William and Mary, Georgetown and Navy were rained out.

Dartmouth showed its lack of outdoor practice by making only 52 hits in 245 times at bat for a low .212 average. The Indian pitching, supposedly fairly strong in pre-season reports, did not come up to expectations. Junior Dick Van Riper and seniors Schach Van Steenberg and Langdon Harris were the only hurlers who looked effective. Ron Judson, one of the few mound veterans, did not make the trip because of the basketball season's late ending.

On the basis of the spring trip, the team lines up as follows: In the infield sophomore John Otis has the edge at third base, with Captain George Becker at shortstop, junior Larry Blades at second and veteran Lou Pfeifle at first. Russ Brignano is an all-around utility man, Dick Portland is a promising sophomore first baseman, and sophomore Frank Blatz could move in at shortstop.

Veteran Bill Beagle will be back in centerfield if he can regain his batting eye. Beagle, Dartmouth's top batter in 1955, failed to get a single hit during the spring trip and struck out eleven times. Sophomore Ralph Manual, who had six hits on the trip, including a double and a triple, looks like a cinch for the left field berth, while sophomores John Chapman and Jerry Thompson will fight it out for the right field job. Don Klages is another promising sophomore outfielder.

Dartmouth's strongest position is behind the plate where veteran Malcolm Brown will have to really hustle to stave off two sophomore rookies - Fred Hildebrandt and Charles Dennison.

The Indians' mound staff, with an even dozen candidates, could be equally strong despite the poor showing on the road. Roland Barker and Ron Judson are the only lettermen back, but Pete Pullen, Les Scammon, Van Riper and Van Steenberg could provide a strong pitching department.

Coach Shawkey is neither optimistic nor pessimistic about his current squad. "We need an awful lot more work out of doors," says Shawkey, "before we can really tell what this club will be like. I had hoped to get a better idea during the spring trip but the weather spoiled this. Defensively we could be better this year, particularly if our pitching holds up, but at the plate it's hard to tell. We can just work in the cage and wait for the fields to clear so we can get outside."

The Indians opened their Ivy schedule on April 20 at Princeton and played at Yale the following day.

Tom Dent, in his 32nd year of Dartmouth coaching, with Captain Clem Malin '56, All-American lacrosse goalie.