Coaches' Corner . . .

TONY LUPIEN: Pitching is basic to baseball. Some men have estimated it is worth 75 percent of a team. In college ball, with games spaced two or three to a week at most, a good pitcher can be even more valuable.

That is why the return of Dave French '62 to our squad this season after a stretch of ineligibility has been so important to our success. He is a good lefthander, the son of Bud French '30 of Upper Montclair, N. J.

Dave doesn't have overpowering stuff but he has a good motion and temperament. I'd rate him second only to Art Quirk (now in the Baltimore Oriole system) among Dartmouth pitchers in my five-year tenure here.

Another key pitcher has been senior righthander Don O'Neill of Rydal, Pa., who built a 5-1 record over the first half of the season. Don has more of a "lefthander's" temperament than French, being excited and volatile on the mound.

I think this 1961 club has the best run-making ability in recent years and I can credit three or four hitters for this asset. Our captain Jerry Foote '61 of Kansas City is not big (5-10, 160 pounds) for a first baseman but he has worked hard on his batting and really improved this year.

Second baseman Roger McArt '61 of Shaker Heights, O., has a reputation as a gloveman and it is true that he has settled down our sophomore infielders like shortstop Barry Elson (Cedar Grove, N. J.) and third baseman Mike Nyquist, West Hartford, Ct., but is underrated as a hitter, too, batting close to .300.

Two other big hitters are rightfielder Carl Jaeger '62 of Chappaqua, N. Y., younger brother of Dick '59, and Nyquist, the big, bespectacled third baseman and football end, who has the pro scouts talking. He hit two home runs against Maryland, a 400-foot homer against Williams and a 350-foot blast to the opposite field and into the football stands against Princeton.

We'll miss the three senior regulars mentioned above - O'Neill, Foote and McArt - but I do regard the current undefeated freshman team as the best in my era at Dartmouth. There are at least eight boys who'll step up with next year's varsity.

WHITEY BURNHAM: The foundation for the 1961 lacrosse season was poured in January when evening workouts began in the Cage. It was obvious from the start that the team was blessed with good spirit, high morale, a keen competitive attitude, and an outstanding leader in Captain Pete Sly. To Sly belongs the credit for inspiring his teammates, by instilling in them a burning desire not to be dominated and to hate it every second when such is the case.

Our Southern trip was mildly successful. It was the first time we had had our feet on a grassy surface, and it was also the first time we had put ten men together in a team effort. Four aside was the best the Cage could offer us, with no space for extra-man defense or clearing drills. Games with Delaware, Swarthmore, Rutgers, and Wesleyan rounded out our sinus circuit, and we arrived on the Hanover Plain with a 3-2 record to show for our efforts.

The sun fell in abundant drifts during April, but we managed to get the regular season off the ground with a trip to Holy Cross and a 14-5 victory.

The battle for State supremacy, with UNH, turned out to be an old-fashioned cliff hanger, with the score being tied seven times and the lead changing hands five times before Dartmouth emerged, bloody but unbowed, with a 12-10 verdict.

Our home opener was an Ivy tilt with Cornell which resulted in a tasty 8-4 victory, and a bench clearing action enjoyed by all reserves.

At this point in the season the injury bug started to bite, and, to date, at least two of our starters have been out of the past five games. Although the replacement personnel have given adequate accounts of themselves, not being at full strength never enhances any team's efforts.

Successive losses to Syracuse, Princeton, Williams and Yale followed. It would be remiss of me not to mention briefly the courage displayed by Dartmouth against a highly rated Yale club. Down 8-2 at the half, the Big Green roared back to score six goals in the third period, and took the lead 11-10 at 7:54 in the last stanza, only to lose a tearjerker in the final 45 seconds.

The Colgate game on Tuesday last was much the same type of contest. Down 5-2 at the half and 6-3 at the three quarter mark, John Walters led the Green on a seven-goal, fourth-period scoring spree, netting five himself, the last four in a row unassisted. Final score 10-8 Dartmouth.

Only the Cantabs and the Quakers remain on the 1961 schedule.