The trouble with being near the top in a tight pennant race is that you can not let up, no matter who the opponent is or what their record seems to imply. Take Columbia, today's doubleheader match for the Crimson batmen, as an example.

If you are the type of person who looks only at the record as an indication of what a team is worth and you see that Columbia is only 2-7 in the Eastern League, you might jump to the conclusion that the Lions are pushovers. Think again, because a lot of people would argue that point, including Harvard coach Loyal Park.

"Last year, we thought Columbia would be the team to beat in the EIBL," Park said, "so we started Roz Brayton against them. And this year, they have eight starters back. I'm really surprised they aren't doing better."

Kevin DeMarrais, director of Columbia sports information, is just as surprised as Park. "We've got good talent," DeMarrais said, "but for some reason we are just not playing the game well at all."

"Our pitching is better than we expected this year, our hitting is worse and the team fielding is much, much worse," DeMarrais said. "When you see that out of the 115 runs scored against us only 66 were earned, this says something about our defense, especially our infield fielding."

The stalwarts in the Lion lineup are catcher Ron Pittenger with a .367 batting average and outfielder Ray Nawrocki with a .333 average.

The probably pitchers for the Lions have not been selected yet but they will come from Columbia's top three men. Bill Casey stands as the Columbia ace with a 3-0 record and an ERA of 2.50. Unfortunately for the Lions, though, none of his wins were league games. The other possible pitchers are Frank Gordon (1-3) with a 3.00 ERA and Glenn Erikson (0-3) and a skyrocketted ERA of 4.50.

There are several spots that have hurt the Lions on defense, the most noticeable of these being the third base corner. Mike Telip, currently at the position, has been improving all season, DeMarrais said, but he has still made a whopping eight errors in 33 attempts.

"I'm a great believer in the 'on any given day' theory and believe that although we are underdogs, we have a good chance of taking some of the games at Harvard," DeMarrais said. Park evidently holds credence in the same theory and has tapped pitching staff ace Roz Brayton for the action today.

Brayton, pitching in the nightcap, will be trying to up his record from 3-1 and lower his already impressive ERA of 0.93. Park had planned to start Don Driscoll in the second game, but he re-injured ligaments in his ankle during practice. No replacement has been named as yet.