The future of the on-again-off-again Harvard baseball team will become much clearer this weekend after the Crimson takes on Eastern League opponents Cornell and Pennsylvania.

In today's game against Cornell. Harvard is sure to have its hands full. The Big Red boasts a hard-hitting attack with four men over 300 and a solid team average of 268. And Ithacan pitchers Jim Purcell and Ivan Tylawsky have a combined 7-2 record.

Hitting Pitchers

It doesn't seem to matter which one of the pitchers Cornell throws in. Batting-wise, at least. Purcell has 12 hits in 36 tries (including five doubles) and Tylawsky stands second on the club -- 364.

Harvard Coach Norm Shepard will probably send his ace, Ray Peters to the hill, hoping to stop Cornell sluggers Mike Riff (.380) and Chris Ritter (.309 and 17 RBI's). Recent League statistics put Peters at the top of he hurling heap with a sparkling 1.06 ERA.

Tomorrow Crimson southpaw Jim McCandlish will try to send Penn to its fourth defeat in five League games, also at Splinter Stadium. The Quakers upset Yale a week ago behind junior right hander Ed Bickel but they have done little else, while posting a less than awesome 2-6 overall record.

Miles Sibell ranks as the leading Penn hitter -- he has four hits in 13 League at bats.

But the rest of his teammates don't seem to be with it. Against Dartmouth Monday Quaker Kenny Dunn got a base hit -- and then was suckered by the old standby, the hidden ball trick.

Once again this weekend Harvard will have to do without spunky second base man Nelly Houston. The former Rhode Island Schoolboy star had his nose broken by a Tufts pitch: he will be replaced by Dick Manchester.

In the Crimson batting race, centerfielder Carter Lord ranks as the only .300 hitter. Lord has 14 hits and a thumping .359 average. Behind the rangy junior are shortstop Bob Cunningham at .278 and catcher Jeff Hall at .276.

1-1 Record

Harvard is now fourth in the Eastern League with a 1-1 mark, trailing undefeated squads from Army, Dartmouth, Princeton and today's opponent Cornell.

Today's game starts at 3 p.m.; tomorrow's begins at 2 p.m. This week's washout against B.C. has been rescheduled to May 5.