After five weeks of indoor training in Lavietes Pavilion, the Harvard baseball team is coming down with a serious case of cabin fever.

The ball club that has breezed to a 48-12 Ivy League record, two league championships and four NCAA tournament wins in the last three seasons is simply dying to get outside.

The squad that has eliminated Stetson, Nicholls State and Tulane from post-season play and has finished the last two seasons ranked in the Top 30 of the Associated Press poll can't wait to face some live competition.

All things considered, that probably isn't the best news for the competition.

"Everybody expects this to be the year," said senior catcher Jason Keck. "With this staff, we feel like we can go deeper than we ever have before. Everybody's been working hard, everybody's itching to get out of the gym and get outside. Our goal is to get a berth in Omaha."

Blah.

The Crimson--which returns five starting position players and 11 pitchers--will make its living on the mound in 1999, boasting the best staff in the Ivy League by a comfortable margin.

"We've got a lot of guys that can be used in any situation," said Harvard Coach Joe Walsh. "We're a very interchangeable staff, and a ton of good, quality arms. Our depth is stronger than ever and we're anxious to crank the stuff out."

Though the rotation is flexible and many of Walsh's pitchers will do double-duty in middle relief capacities, Walsh expects three starters to be rotation mainstays: senior Garett Vail, freshman Ben Crockett and sophomore John Birtwell.