Unless drastic changes take place among college baseball ranks between now and the opening of the regular schedule, it looks as if the 1942 edition of the Crimson nine will be better in several respects than last year's aggregation.

Although informal practice has been taking place for several months in Briggs Cage, official practice started yesterday afternoon for battery candidates for the squad. Regular practice for the whole team will begin next week.

The most difficult problem facing Coach Floyd Stall is the catching situation. Bob Regan, regular Varsity backstop last year, graduated and Paul Delahoyde, promising Sophomore, expects to be drafted before the spring season.

Axtell Leading Candidate

Leading the remaining list of candidates for the first-string job is Bob Axtell, a Junior, who received some game experience last year as a substitute. But he will probably have a close race for the job from Paul Quinn, Bill Parsons, and Gerry Callanan, who all should have a real chance for the berth.

On the firing side of the battery, the situation is decidedly stronger since only one of last year's crop of pitchers, Charley Brackett, will be missing from the field of eligible.

Lefty Bud Waldstein, last year's outstanding twirler, is expected to lead the list. He compiled the best cumulative pitching record last year, although Burgy Ayres was the possessor of the lowest earned run average for the season. Ayres will be back again this year but will be unable to start baseball practice until the present hockey season is over.

Freshman Star

Leading the newcomers in this department is Sophomore Warren Berg, the best pitcher on last year's Yardling nine. He has a very fast ball and good control, but needs Varsity game experience before he can become a dependable asset. In the Freshman game with Tufts last year, he performed the unique feat of throwing only 107 pitches during the game which Harvard won 4 to 3.

Other candidates for the mound staff are Bill Hoftyzer, a big Junior with good possibilities, Joe Phalen, a Junior who starred for Andover before coming to college, Chick Lutz, who is at present playing basketball, and George Harding, another Junior who lacks experience.

Picture Not Too Bright

Coach Stahl has not much basis for getting too optimistic about this year's squad even though he has a host of yeterans returning to the fold. The Sophomore Class, which has an average crop of ball players, unfortunately will not add very much to the general picture. Its only real stars are Warren Berg and Ned Fitzgibbons.

Fitzgibbons is the best Sophomore fielder and batter and is one of the finest prospects in Crimson baseball history. Other strong hitters in the same class are Sandy MacMillan and Al Everts.

Veterans of last year who are expected back for the opening practice session for the whole team next Monday are Ed Buckley, Captain Lou Clay, Bart Harvey, Bill Hausserman, Gil Whittemore, Jay Gleason, and Bill Barnes.

Harvey, the regular second baseman, was the only one of the group to finish the season with a batting average above 300. The rest of the team was noted for its lack of hitting strength, a situation which should be helped this spring by several hard hitting Sophomores.