With the Big Green Teams

DARTMOUTH'S baseball season was supposed to start on March 21 against Old Dominion College in Norfolk, Va. It rained that day — and the next — and Coach Tony Lupien's road show had to wait two days and travel to Raleigh, N. C. to taste action. The two extra days of rest didn't do Chuck Seelbach any good. Nor did they put any extra hits in Dartmouth's bats. Seelbach and Dartmouth bowed, 7-0.

Four days later it was Seelbach's turn again. The senior righthander from Rocky River, Ohio, who was one of the Eastern League's finest hurlers last year, showed mid-season form. He struck out seven East Carolina batters and spread as many hits. His teammates came up with only three singles and Seelbach lost what Lupien calls "one of the finest college baseball games I've ever seen" by a 1-0 count. It took 90 minutes to play nine innings.

Seelbach's next outing was at Columbia's Baker Field, the site of the Indians' regular season (and EIBL) opener. He pulled a groin muscle in the first inning and departed in the second after giving up two runs. Dartmouth went on to lose, 10-5, and all of a sudden the Green's best pitcher had an 0-3 record.

He was back a week later. This time it was wind-swept Soldiers Field in Cambridge. It was the second game of a doubleheader with Harvard and the talented sophomore, Pete Broberg, already had given Dartmouth a 5-2 win in the opener.

For once, one run was enough and Seelbach scored it himself. The way he mowed down the Crimson that single run was as good as 10. He allowed one hit and was superb despite the horrendous weather that was better suited for chopping wood rather than swinging it.

The Eastern League has a revised schedule this season that provides 14 games for each team. "It's a lot more interesting," said Bruce Saylor, the captain from West Caldwell, N. J., who already is headed for his third straight Dartmouth team batting title.

"When we played nine games, a couple of early losses meant you could be out of the title picture. We lost two games on our first weekend but I still think we're in good shape to win it again."

If Dartmouth does defend its EIBL title successfully, the reason will be pitching. While everyone is watching Broberg, the beautiful righthander who has major league scouts drooling, Seelbach is easily the mainstay. He has the poise, experience, and confidence this season to dominate the opposition.

With warm weather, and a mind for the task at hand, Broberg will be equally awesome — perhaps more so. His fast ball was slow and his curve was flat at Harvard and he still struck out nine and allowed only three hits. His league opener was a two-hit, 5-0 win at Princeton, giving him an EIBL earned run average of 0.00 after two complete games.

And while the eyes are on Seelbach and Broberg, there's significant talent behind them. Charlie Janes is another highly regarded sophomore (he pitched four innings of one-hit, shutout ball in relief during a 7-3 win over Boston University) and two juniors, Bill Saumsiegle and Oz Griebel, can fit into the starting rotation any day.

It's this kind of pitching depth that may make the difference — especially if the Indians make modest improvement on their early 3-2 EIBL record. After games at Brown and Yale, the rest of Dartmouth's foes in the league will be coming to Hanover — Army, Cornell, Navy and Penn — for a total of six games. Tony Lupien's not unhappy about that.

He is wondering about his hitters, though. Outside of Saylor there's prom- ise in Bud Dagirmanjian, the first baseman (who missed all the spring trip with a severe ankle sprain) and outfielders Tom Hanna and Frank Mannarino (the latter a sophomore who has taken over the left field chores).

Bob Mlakar continues to feel his way at shortstop, the position he held as a sophomore. He was an All-EIBL pick at second base last year but has the best range of the infielders and has returned to the left side. Jim Bell, a gutty competitor from Westville Grove, N. J., had a 5-3 pitching record as a sophomore in 1969 but has beaten out Dave Dietz for the second-base job. Craig Conklin again looks like one of the East's best defensive third basemen and lacks only consistency at the plate. He made the EIBL's second team last spring.

While there is pitching in abundance, Lupien has spent much of the early weeks of the season trying to find a catcher. He alternated sophomore Wayne Young and Tim Hannigan through the southern trip and continued the juggling for two weeks of the regular campaign. It took a solid performance (and two hits) against B.U. plus another steady job behind the plate (and two more hits) against Harvard to put Hannigan in the driver's seat.

Beyond mentioning that the record on the southern trip was 2-6 (both wins came at North Carolina State), it's pointless to ponder the won-lost picture at this stage of the season. It seems fair to say, though, that the Indians do have pitching and they have reasonable hitting. If they prove to be a tight defensive team, the month of May could be a lot of fun around Red Rolfe Field.

Despite early season disappointments,senior righthander Chuck Seelbach stillrates as mainstay of the pitching staff.