The Crimson baseball team's pitching corps shackled four Southern teams over spring vacation as Harvard opened its 1964 season with four victories and a tie.

Harvard opened its swing through Dixie Tuesday with a 6-3 win over Hampden-Sydney, then routed Lynchburg 15-3, edged Richmond twice, 2-1 and 2-0, and played to a 1-1 standstill in a 16-inning marathon at Johns Hopkins Saturday.

Against Hampden-Sydney Paul del Rossi started for the Crimson, and trailed, 2-1, going into the sixth inning--an unusual experience for the ace left-hander. With two out in the sixth, captain Tom Stephenson singled to right, Gary Miller and Bob St. George walked. Sophomore Jim Tobin brought them all home with a booming triple that put Harvard in front to stay and gave del Rossi the twentieth victory of his varsity career.

The Crimson got a breather Wednesday against woefully weak Lynchburg, putting together 12 singles, nine walks, and five errors to bomb the Virginians, 15 to 3, Stephenson, Al Liebgott, and Mike Patrick contributed 11 RBI's in the seven-inning contest. Andy Luther was the winning pitcher.

Poor Hitting

Harvard bats were silent in the next three contests: but the team kept on winning with a combination of scratch singles, sacrifices, steals, and brilliant pitching.

On Thursday Richmond's highly-touted Bill Hash belted a home run off Lee Sargent in the third inning, and gave the Spiders a 1-0 lead, which stood up until the sixth inning. A walk to Skip Falcone, a sacrifice by Miller, and a single by Stephenson tied the score. In the ninth Tobin beat out an infield hit, John Dockery sacrificed him to second, and Liebgott won the game with a single to left.

The Crimson's hitting was just as unspectacular the next afternoon, but del Rossi turned in a brilliant, two-hit job that handcuffed Richmond, 2-0. The junior port-sider fanned fifteen, walked none, and yielded only two singles.

But even sterling pitching couldn't save the Crimson against Johns Hopkins Saturday. Andy Luther started and gave up a cheap first-inning run on an error, a passed ball, and a squeeze play. Luther's arm was giving him trouble, and he was replaced by John Scott in the second inning. Harvard tied the score in the fourth when Liebgott walked, stole second, and scored on a single by Miller.

But after that it was all goose eggs on the scoreboard. The game was called after 16 innings over the protest of both coaches because the umpire anticipated that the sun was going to set.