"We made him look goad." Harvard's Paul scheper said after Dartmouth's diminutive lefty, Jim Croteau, threw a onehitter at the Crimson in the first game of Saturday's doubleheader at Hanover. N.H.
Paul Chicarella ruined any no-hit suspense by rapping a single to start the ballgame, but Croteau, a junior from Chicopee. Mass., set Harvard down without a hit the rest of the way, despite walking six. "We hit the ball hard, but not in the right places." Scheper said after the 2-0 loss, Croteau is now 2-6.
Earlier in the afternoon. Yale clinched its first EIBL corwn since the mid-1950s as Navy lost to Army in the first game of their doubleheader. The Middies won the nightcap to take second place in the league with an 11-3 mark: the Elis finished the season last week at 12-2.
It's typical of the Crimson's sweet-and-sour season that everything went right in the nightcap of the doubleheader. Harvar4d exploded for 18 hits, turned five double, plays, and rode Billy Doyle's six-hit pitching to a 14-3 victory. The twinbill split gives the Crimson a 5-5 Eastern League record with three games remaining--plus a rain-out against Brown that will not be made up--remaining.
After getting blanked in the opener. Harvard's Donnie Allard and vinnie Martelli continued their assults on the Crimson record for runs batted in in a season--Mike Stenhouse's 40 in 1977--in the second game. With Harvard leading, 4-1, in the fifth. Martelli lined a single off Dartmouth's starter and loser, Brian Hebert to knock in two runs.
An inning later, Martelli doubled home two more, and Allard--who entered the day tied with Martelli with 30 RBIs--tripled him home for a 10-2 Harvard lead. Allard singled Brad Bauer around in the seventh to complete Crimson scoring, so with four games remaining (the three league contests plus Brandeis Tuesday). Martelli is up, 34-32.
The five double-plays--including one in four straight innings from the second to the fifth--must have set some kind of a record for a seven-inning game, and coupled with a trio in the opener, added up to eight for the day.
But the 16 hits--including three each for Bauer, Allard and Chicarello and two for Chuck Marshall and Danny Skaff--don't make up for the lone safety in the first game. And a 5-5 record just isn't good enough to repeat in the EIBL.
THE NOTEBOOK: With the season winding down, it is time to give a round of applause to Messrs. Allard and Martelli, who have seen their sons play in just about every home game and most away games, too. "If it's within that 100-mile radius." Vinnie said. "my dad will be there." Don Allard Sr. was quite an athlete in his own right, a star at Boston College... Next in line for plaudits are coach Alex Nahigian and assistant coach (and assistant athletic director) Jim Stoeckel, who planned a marvelous afternoon at Soldiers Field yesterday. The event was the first annual Harvard Baseball Alumni Game, and the return of more than two dozen ex-Crimson hatsmen made the day a treat... Hardworking Peter Crowley, a three-year junior yarsity star, picked up his first varsity at-bat at Dartmouth. Good to see, Pete... Tuesday's contest with Brandeis is the squad's last home game. The squad travels to Army and Cornell next weekend to close out the campaign.
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