Almost every spring, Stuffy McInnis faces a doubly-difficult problem in molding a varsity baseball team. Graduation losses are only part of the problem; lack of practice is an almost equal handicap. For Cambridge weather is seldom warm and often wet until the season has actually begun.

But this year, for the first time since 1948, the squad will make a spring-vacation southern trip, thanks to encouraging response to a rush fund-drive by the newly organized Friends of Harvard Baseball.

The three-game southern tour, which opens at Ft., Lee, Va., April 4, will cost about $800 and, for a time, lack of necessary funds led to fears that the team would have to travel by private cars if the trip was to be made.

But, with the help of undergraduate manager Bob Mullins, and his assistant, Tom Coolidge, the Baseball Friends were organized and financial appeals issued. Yesterday, only a week and a half after letters were sent out, ex-Crimson players, and other interested alumni had already responded with the cost of the trip, and enough surplus to start a fund which the managers hope will grow enough to help make the southern tour an annual to help make the southern tour an annual affair.

The team, including about 25 players, two coaches, two managers, and a trainer, will leave Cambridge April 3, and meet Ft. Loe the next day. A game with the University of Virginia is scheduled April 5, and after two days of practice under southern sun, the nine faces the Quantico Marine team.

Meanwhile, the Baseball Friends, now organized on a provisional basis, hope to become permanent, like similar organizations boosting crew, hockey and golf.