AMHERST--With one sweet swing of the but yesterday Eid Farrell exhibited what Harvard sports are supposed to reflect: athletic prowess against a serious academic background.

Farrell took Economics Department General Examinations in the morning, then stroked the first pitch he faced over the right field fence for a grand slam, the first of his organized baseball career, as the Harvard baseball team split a doubleheader with the University of Massachusetts at Lorden Field.

Farrell's first-inning slam was one of few Crimson bright spots in the nightcap, the batmen's first setback of the 1983 campaign. Harvard took the opener, 6-5, and finished the day with a 6-1 record, while UMass bolstered its mark to 4-11 with a 10-7 decision in the late game.

Strictness

Farrell, Greg Brown and Gaylord Lyman took their generals in baseball uniforms, then hopped in Farrell's car for the drive to Amherst. "I was happy with them," Farrell said of the exams. "I did pretty well I think. I hope I passed them."

He certainly passed the test on the field. Arriving at the park late in the first game, the Anaheim. Calif. native played two innings at first base without making it to the plate.

When he did step into the batter's box the bases were full of Crimson Jerseys. Farrell rode Tony Presval's first offering just left of the 370-ft sign in right field.

"I guess I hit it to the right part of the park." Harvard's senior first baseman said. "The wind was blowing out. It was pretty exciting."

Farrell wasn't the only Harvard player to drive in runs Mickey Maspons picked up two of his three first-game RBIs on a beautiful double-squeeze in the first inning. On the UMass side, right fielder Chris Waszczuk homered twice and doubled once while going four-for-six on the day.

The Crimson breakdowns came in pitching and on defense. After Waszczuk walked to lead off the UMass fourth in the opener, Jeff Cimini hit a double-play ball at shortstop Tony DiCesare. DiCesare overthrew second baseman Brad Bauer, and Chris Schindler retrieved the ball. Schindler threw the ball in to catcher Maspons to prevent a run from scoring.

Morality

Waszczuk held up at third, but teammate Cimini wasn't looking and ran up his back. Maspons tried to make the play at second but overthrew the bag, with center fielder Bruce Weller alertly backing up the play. However, Weller's errant throw to the plate missed Maspons.

The result two unearned Minuteman runs, three Crimson errors and an example of the kind of day the batmen were going to have.

The runs narrowed the Harvard lead to 5-3, and two more in the sixth tied the game at five apiece. But in the top of the seventh, the Crimson scraped up a run on an Elliott Rivera leadoff walk, a Bauer sacrifice bunt, a Vinnie Martelli single and a Don Allard squeeze to put Harvard on top.

Charlie Marchese took over for Crimson starter Jeff Musselman and walked the first two UMass batters. After taking the count to 3-0 against DH Todd Comeau, Marchese fought back for a strikeout. Waszczuk walked to load the bases. Then, with the count 0-2, a low pitch got by Martelli Dean Bennett tried to score from third, but Martelli's toss to Marchese beat the belly-flopping Minute man Cimini flied to right to end the contest.