Baseball

Elsewhere on these pages Dartmouth baseball mentor Tony Lupien records his own impressions of the spring trip and his feelings about Dartmouth's chances in the league this spring. It is sufficient to record here that the Indians dropped all six vacation contests, although most were close games, three being lost by one run.

Without previous outdoor workouts the Big Green was not sharp, and particularly noticeable was the lack of batting power. In the field Dartmouth played good defensive baseball and the pitching was generally adequate, but lack of power at the plate and some errors in base-running were costly. Right fielder Andy Mehalick was the only player to hit consistently well, while Art Quirk, Stan Drazen and Don O'Neill did most of the pitching.

The Indians opened with a 2-1 loss to North Carolina, then dropped a series of three games to North Carolina State, 7-5, 9-8 and 2-1. They next bowed to Randolph-Macon, 4-2, and wound up the trip by being shut out by Maryland, 7-0.

Despite this disappointing start, the Big Green squad has hopes of improving on its second-place league finish of last year. Coach Lupien plans to use a two-platoon system this spring, switching his lineups as they face right-handed and left-handed pitchers. If the opposition uses a left-hander, the Big Green lineup will see Bob Jennings, Roger Hanlon and Dick Marrone in the outfield with Captain Dave Marshall at first base, Dave Richards at second base, Chuck Kaufman at shortstop, Roger McArt at third, and George Woodworth catching.

Against right-hand hurling Andy Mehalick and Walt Sosnowski move into the outfield, with Captain Marshall switching from first base to third and Jerry Foote taking over at first.

Most of the squad are letter-winning veterans, except for sophomore players Roger McArt, Dick Marrone and Bob Jennings.

The Dartmouth mound staff is led by veterans Art Quirk, Stan Drazen and Wayne Skeen with sophomores Don O'Neill and Bob Johnson showing promise.