Battling the effects of an 11-day examperiod layoff, Harvard's Eastern League champion baseball team will compete in the first-round of the NCAA Eastern Regional playoffs at noon Wednesday in Holyoke, Mass.

The Crimson will face the winner of the ECAC's Region II tourney--either James Madison, Fordham, Seton Hall or Delaware--in the first game of the double-elimination, six-team tournament, which will run through Saturday.

The victor of the regional will then journey to Omaha for the eight-squad College World Series, which begins June 3.

The Crimson might not get that far, though, and the fact that six starters must take exams at Holyoke the day of the game does not help.

Mound ace Larry Brown, one of the six and Wednesday's starter, said yesterday, "It's been pretty tough practicing the last couple weeks, but we got it going yesterday and today, and we hope to do well. We're just thankful to be there, really."

"Brownie" finished the regular season 10-0, with 71 strikeouts and an 0.80 ERA over 79 innings.

Brown will need some help from the hitters, though, and left-fielder Mike Stenhouse leads that group. "Sten" ended up at .426 for the year, and .500 in league competition to win the Eastern batting title. Stenhouse, who went 23-for-42 at the end of the season, also had 36 RBIs and ten HRs, the latter tying Pete Varney's Harvard record.