Bobby Kelley knows it. Everyone knows it.

"It was a disappointing year last year," the Crimson second baseman said yesterday after Harvard's light workout in Briggs Cage following the rainout. "Everyone is a little more hungry this year and I think we're going to surprise some people."

Kelley already has. His hitting streak, started last year, has reached 20 games, believed to be a Harvard record, though no one is quite sure. Everyone, however, is sure that the senior is off to a brilliant start, and heading for what could be his finest season.

After the 1978 Eastern League championship, last year's squad was supposed to sail through the regular season with the title a foregone conclusion. With superstars Larry Brown and Mike Stenhouse coming back for their final years, Harvard couldn't help but win.

A 22-14, fourth-place season later, Harvard entered this campaign with none of the advance billing under which the '79 crew labored. Instead, with four freshmen starting, the Crimson opened the Eastern League season with few advance notices--and three straight wins.

Easy Win

And Kelley's start has been near perfect. In the crucial 4-3 triumph over Penn, he singled and scored, and in the sweep of Columbia, he went three-for-seven.

And these weren't just hits. For merly a singles hitter, (.284 last year with just six of 39 hits for extra bases) Kelley opened the nightcap with a long double and rocketed a two-run homer in the second inning, equaling his last year's four-bagger production.

Explanations for the emergence of Bobby "Kong" Kelley? "That's no new-found power," the second baseman says, "That's a short centerfield fence." And, insiders concede, Kelley will not soon be trading his leadoff spot for Mark Bingham's cleanup position. But this is a much-improved Kelley.

A Waltham native, Kelley credited summer league ball on the title-winning Hosmer Chiefs (freshman outfielder Donnie Allard also played) for his swing's improvement. Coach Alex Nahigian said Kelley's weight training on the Nautilus machine provided some needed strength development and helped Kelley "trim down." Though his waistline is under far better control than his turret of red hair, "trim" is not a word many associate with Kelley.

One factor that won't show up on any statistic is a subtle change in temperament. Kelley freely admits "Ever since I was in little league, I was throwing bats," but no more. He said he has found "a little bit of maturity" and "calmed down." Nahigian used the same phrase, "calmed down," to describe the change in Keliey.

What's left for the senior is to continue what he's started, developing his promising defensive relationship with sure-handed freshman shortstop Brad Bauer ("Bobby's excellent" Bauer) and help keep the Crimson on its winning course. The hitting streak is intact at 20 and the record is a pristine 3-0 in the Eastern League. And no end in sight for either mark, says Bobby Kelley.