Sciolla and Smith each drove in a run in the fifth and Hal picked up his fourth run-batted-in in the seventh. Bridich also had a hit in that inning, a double that brought home two more runs. Pinch hitter Dan Williams made it 11 with a single in the eighth.

LaCivita wasn't the only one to return from the disabled list to contribute to Harvard's charge to Omaha. Don Driscoll came back from an ankle injury to get his first start since April 21. Driscoll pitched a neat four hitter against the Huskies, the only run coming in the third on an RBI single by Joe Porcello.

The action moved to Soldiers Field for the final contest on Sunday. Providence, who had to win a pair of games Saturday to get into the finals, faced the task of having to beat Harvard twice the following day to win the title. Not an enviable task. The Crimson needed to win just one and managed that easily with an 8-1 victory.

The Friars threatened with their only run in the second, as starter O'Malley gave up a hit to George Mello, a walk to Larry Thomas and an RBI single to Bob Dembek. But that was all Providence would get, as O'Malley and Norm Walsh, who came on in the eighth to get the final two outs of the inning, held the Friars' bats in check.

It was Smith who tied the game in the bottom of the second with his fourth homer of the season to lead off the inning. Providence starter Jim McGeough was clearly shaken after giving up the meat ball to Smith and proceeded to walk LaCivita and Bridich and then gave up the winning runs on a pair of wild pitches that scored Bridich and Ed Durso, who had reached on a fielder's choice.

Bridich banged in another two runs with a single in the third and Smith made it 7-1 in the seventh with a two-run homer that came exactly two hours after his first of the game. The final run crossed the plate in the eighth as Durso scored' on Stoeckel's grounder to third.

Bat Girls

So the champagne popped open in the Harvard locker and the Friars with their distracting bat-persons (female) had to take the two hour bus ride back to Providence, thinking maybe next year. Harvard fans will see their coach, Alex Nahigian, again though, as he will be here next Fall to assist Joe Restic. After the grid campaign however he returns to the Rhode Island capital to prepare the Friar baseball squad for another shot at the series.

Coach Loyal Park had praise for the whole team after the win. "I think our overall balance was what impressed people most," he said yesterday. "Any time you can go into a double elimination tournament using just four pitchers and come out with two complete games, you've got to be deep."

The team leaves for Omaha on June 7 and will play the fourth game of the World Series against the winner of this weekend's NCAA District VIII playoff. The favorite to win in the West is USC.

So while the detracters who joked about the Florida trip have been munching on their words, Harvard has been proving itself the best ball club in the Northeast. Now there are probably those out west who say that the calibre of competition in the east doesn't measure up to western standards, much as Embry Riddle didn't measure up to Bob Seddon's. The Crimson squad better bring some salt to Omaha for those people, it'll make their words go down a lot easier