By far the most exciting game so far this year was played on Holmes field yesterday afternoon between the Harvard and Yale freshman nines. Harvard won through her superior work at the bat. The game was anybody's until the last man was out; at times the excitement was intense as first one side and then the other gained the lead. Harvard played well at the critical points, but at other times her work in the field was careless. She batted well straight through, but failed to bunch her hits very successfully. By far the worst point of the team was the base running, which was execrable. If Yale's had not been almost equally as bad, the game would surely have gone to the men from New Haven. For Harvard at times neither the baserunners nor the coachers had the slightest idea what was the correct thing to do, and the result was several easy putouts by Yale when Harvard needed runs the most. Unless the nine makes a vast improvement in this particular there is not the slightest chance for victory at New Haven on June 1. The coaching also was very poor. In the field the work was better though by no means steady. The infield men were inclined to interfere with each other, and the backing-up was not so strong as it should have been. The team as a whole, however, deserves praise for its work which was cool at critical points. The nine was unfortunate at the first in losing the regular catcher, who broke a finger. Bell filled his place creditably, but his arm was in such a condition that the Yale men stole bases with impanity. Hawley pitched exceedingly well. In the ninth inning he saved the game by striking out two men in succession with a man on third base, and only one run needed by Yale to win.

The Yale freshmen made fewer errors than Harvard, but the hitting was weaker. Jones pitched a steady game up to the tenth inning when he gave two men bases on balls. His infield support, however, in that inning was not good, the second baseman making two costly errors.

Harvard was first at the bat. Wood got his base on third baseman's error, stole second and third, and came home on Evans' long fly to centre. Harvard shut Yale out on a pretty double play by Wrenn and Carpenter. Hale made a two base hit for Harvard in the second inning, and scored on Cummin's pretty single to right field. Ivison scored for Yale on a base hit, and a passed ball by Hale who had a finger broken. Harvard was blanked in the third. She went to pieces with Yale at the bat, and four men scored though only one hit was made. Aside from this inning, the Harvard freshmen played a fairly steady game. Harvard earned a run in both the fifth and sixth innings, but there was no excuse for the disheartening exhibition of base-running she gave in the sixth. At the end of the sixth inning the score stood seven to six for Yale. In the next, two base hits and a passed ball gave Harvard two unearned runs. Harvard was blanked in the eighth inning, but Yale got two runs on two singles, Brown's error, a steal, and a sacrifice. In the first half of the ninth Evans tied the score for Harvard, reaching first base on balls, second on a steal, and home on a passed ball. In the last half of the ninth Preston for Yale lead off with a hit. Evans threw wild for the double play made possible by his catch of a fly, and Preston reached second; he stole third, but was left there, the next two men striking out. Hawley's work in this inning was superb and Bell supported him well. In the tenth inning Harvard came in to win: Carpenter got first base on balls; Bell knocked to picher who put Carpenter out at second and doubled Bell at first. With two men out, Cummin got his base on balls, Wrenn a base on Wales' error, and both were advanced a base on the base on balls given to Neff. With three men on bases, Wood made a cracking hit to left field and Cummin and Wrenn scored. Wales, on second base, fumbled Evans' grounder and two more men came in. Yale was blanked in her half. The score:

HARVARD, '92.AB. R. BH. TB. SB. PO. A. E.

Neff, rf 5 2 1 1 1 0 0 0

Wood, ss 6 4 2 2 3 3 1 1

Evans, cf 5 1 0 0 2 1 0 1

Hawley, p 6 2 3 3 1 1 10 0

Brown, 3b 4 0 1 1 1 5 1 3

Carpenter, 1b 3 1 1 1 1 7 1 1

Hale, c 1 1 1 2 0 1 0 1

Bell, c 4 0 1 1 0 6 5 1

Cummin, lf 4 1 1 1 1 1 1 0

Wrenn, 2b 5 1 1 1 0 5 5 1