Baseball
Coach Ulysses J. "Tony" Lupien, in his second season of master-minding Dartmouth's baseball fortunes, may have a winner this spring. The Big Green, with three consecutive league wins and an overall record of five wins against one defeat, has a good chance to win the Eastern Intercollegiate Baseball League crown (it says here!).
The current nine has a solid nucleus of veterans plus some talented sophomores, a good infield, a fast outfield, and potentially a much stronger hitting team than any in recent years. The Big Green team does lack reserve power and the pitching is the major question mark, with only veteran southpaw Art Quirk rated as dependable.
A rundown of the batting order goes like this: leading off is Gene Powell, sophomore right-fielder, with Chuck Kaufman, another sophomore, hitting second and playing shortstop. Captain John Otis, standout third-sacker, hits third, with first-baseman Ralph Manual, another veteran, hitting cleanup. Hockey player Rod Anderson or Bill Dickson, a junior, who alternate in left field, bat fifth; followed by sophomore catcher George Woodruff, right-fielder Fred Hilderbrandt or Dave Marshall, second-baseman Dave Richardson, and the pitcher.
An early-season injury to Ralph Manual, the team's leading hitter, will keep him out of action until early May, and his place is being taken by basketball star Walt Sosnowski, who is an excellent utility infielder.
The pitching staff is the big question mark at the moment. Art Quirk has worked in five of the six games to date and has won four, including all three league contests. Quirk has hurled a total of 31 innings, given up only 15 hits and struck out 43 men for an amazing earnedrun average of 0.87. Sophomore Roger Hanlon has worked - innings and given up 12 hits; Dave Gavitt, a junior, has pitched a total of four innings; and the rest of the mound staff has appeared for only one or two innings. Some help may be expected from sophomore hurlers Black well Bruner, Hank McCourt and Spence Morgan, and from junior Stan Drazen who saw limited action last year. However, all these pitchers are virtually untested and unless one: or two can come through, it seems certain that young Mi' Quirk is going to have a mighty sore arffl by the season's end.
On the other side, Dartmouth's power at the plate seems improved this season, with three players currently hitting above (he .300 mark. Ralph Manual has batted at a -458 in six games, while second-sacker Dave Richardson has a .353 average and Art Quirk, who believes in helping his own cause, has a healthy .333 average. The team average is up to .255, which is relatively high for a college team this early in the season.
On the trip South, the Big Green lost the opener to North Carolina State by a narrow 3-2 margin, but after several days of inactivity they trounced the Quantico Marines, a 1-2, then stopped Navy, 8-6, Upsala, 3-1, and most recently Yale, 8-1, and Princeton, 3-0. In the most recent game against the Tigers at Princeton, Quirk hurled a masterful game, allowing only three hits and fanning 14 batters. Captain John Otis collected a timely double in the seventh inning to drive home two runs, and the Indians added another in the eighth stanza.
Fourteen games, including seven league contests, remain to be played, and if Dartmouth can keep hitting and the pitching staff can develop, this could be Dartmouth's year to shine in the Eastern baseball circuit.
