Captains: Frank Caprio and Frank Morelli

1987 Record: 19-7 overall, 12-4 EIBL, 4-2 GBL

Home Games: Soldiers Field

Everyone's supposed to take it easy over spring break, right?

Most people head south to lie on the beach, soak up some sun and take a break from the academic life for a week. No stress. No hard work. No sweat.

Florida is the epitome of spring break sloth. Bikinis and beers. Beaches and babes. It's a vacationer's paradise.

The Harvard baseball team will be traveling to Florida over spring break, but it won't be enjoying the sites or the sights.

The Crimson will be playing some serious ball.

Beginning at the end of the month, Harvard will play against the Boston Red Sox farm teams and three college teams.

Last year, the Crimson went up to the plate against Cy Young winner Roger Clemens in a game, and was no-hit by the hard-throwing righthander. The rest of the American League also had trouble with Clemens last year, too.

Although it doesn't look like Harvard will come up to the plate to face Clemens or Lee Smith this year, the week of spring training will certainly help the Crimson, which has been practicing inside Briggs Cage over the last few weeks.

The lighting in the cage isn't as good as it is outside, so it's not really possible to get an idea of either the hitting or the pitching. And the artificial turf on which the team has been fielding so far this season gives rather different bounces than the ones the team will face outside on natural turf when it competes in the Greater Boston and Eastern Intercollegiate Leagues.

"Everything is a nice hop," Harvard Coach Alex Nahigian said. "When you go outside, the nice hop isn't there."

Having the cage lets the team to work out more than the chilly New England winter would have allowed. That extra practice time should help the early parts of the season go much more smoothly for the Crimson, especially for the freshmen.

"Freshmen have to make the transition," Nahigian said. "They don't face sliders in high school. Our pitchers throw sliders. It makes the transition easier."