Harvard athletes competing for a national title? Perhaps in squash or polo, but a Crimson squared facing teams from the Big Ten and Pacific Coast Conferences in the NCAA baseball World Series?

Unlikely as it may seem, Harvard's varsity nine has ranked among the top teams in the nation throughout the season. The Crimson's rise to success and attention has not been a fluke of poor scheduling. The squad, 26-6 entering the Omaha playoffs, included several pro prospects, three pitchers with 6-2 or better records, and a near flawless fielding team. This year's squad was more than just the New England champion; it was a national contender.

More important, Harvard won with the consistency of a professional squad rather than the explosiveness that abounds in college baseball. There were no 11-10 slugfests, no double headers that saw erratic 7-2, 2-7 splits. Except for a three-game slump in the middle of the season, Harvard played a cautious game; protecting one or two-run leads and scrambling to add another tally with a bunt here and a hit and run on the next play.

It was also an exciting season, for outside of the Greater Boston League, Harvard never really realized its full potential and didn't run away in any of its' victories. The key to the season wasn't an awesome hitting attack nor a stifling pitching staff. The victories were built upon tight defense, beating out singles, advancing on infield outs and coming from behind in the late innings.

The team started fast on its Southern tour during the Spring recess, winning six of seven (and that loss coming with the second string on the field). But recognition came slowly because of the recent history of this varsity nine.

When this year's seniors entered Harvard as freshmen, they built a Yardling squad that frequently over shadowed a varsity team that was headed to the Eastern title and the NCAA playoffs. The freshmen were the first undefeated nine in the twentieth century, and they belted out over 10 runs per game to demolish the opposition.

The baseball team made the cover of the Harvard Sports Information brochure the next spring, an indication that it was tabbed for fame. The returning varsity had lost only one Eastern League game behind the right arms of juniors Ray Peters and Bob Dorwart.

In the World Series, the pitching held, limiting the opposition to four runs in two games, but the Harvard line-up only delivered one tally in 19 innings.

The dream of the sophomore bats-Pete Varney, Pete Bernhard, Bill Kelly and Dan DeMichele-and the senior hurlers never came to be, for Peters accepted a bonus from the Seattle Pilots and commuted to Cambridge that spring for hour exams and finals.

The sophomore year of Varney and Co., all regular starters, had to be frustrating. While the Crimson crushed every team in the Boston area and won the GBL title, inconsistent pitching hurt Harvard. Losses to second division Penn, Brown, and Army put the varsity nine in a 1-4 hole in the Eastern League.

Fininshing with a respectable 13-8 season record and a tie for third in the League, the Crimson had to sit back and watch Dartmouth and Boston University, two teams it had beaten during the season, enter the NCAA District I playoffs.

But there was hope for the future. The freshman team, while losing one game, had surpassed their record-setting predecessors by averaging over 11 runs per game.

If the junior version of Varney and Co. was more successful, it was also more frustrated. Playing an inferior schedule in the South, the Crimson came north after recess with a 10-0 record. But the bubble hurts as Harvard dropped two of its first three Eastern League games.

The season boiled down to a head-to-head doubleheader with Dartmouth for the League title. The Crimson lost the first game in the ninth inning and lost the title with a 1-0 defeat in the second match.

Although Harvard won 13 of its last 15 games, embarrassing defeats to B.U. and Tufts left a 23-7 team without even the consolation of a GBI, title.