TIGER NINE NEEDS PITCHERS

With only eight days left before the opening of Princeton's 1917 baseball schedule, the team's prospects for a successful season seem to rest almost entirely on whether or not a dependable pitcher can be discovered or developed. Last year Coach Clarke, confronted with much the same problem during the first part of the season, was able to fall back on Link, but this year there is no one on the pitching staff of Link's experience. Of the material on hand Chaplin and Thompson are the most promising. Thompson is gradually rounding into form after being incapacitated during the fall and winter by an injury to his arm. Tibbott, shortstop last year, may also be tried out in the box. His work in the cage during the past few weeks has been marked by steady improvement, but it will be difficult to judge of his real possibilities until he has pitched in an actual game.

In other departments of the game, however, Princeton is much more favorably situated. Considering last year's records and the work in the cage this year, the nine will be above the average in both hitting and fielding. Captain Driggs, Tibbott and Lee, among the veterans of the 1916 team who will in all probability play this spring, stood respectively second, third and fifth in the list of the team's hitting averages last year. There are three other candidates for the nine who all bat in the neighborhood of 300. The weakness of the 1916 squad in batting was noticeable, but so far this year there has been encouraging improvement in the department.

With the aforementioned exception of pitchers, there is a wealth of good material for every position in both infield and out. Law, Talley and Shea, veterans at the infield positions of the 1916 team, have been lost through graduation. These men had had several years' experience on the university squad, but in playing ability they were not more than fairly reliable, and it will probably be easy to fill their positions satisfactorily. Bauhan, captain of the 1919 team, will probably be tried out at shortstop, which position will be vacated by shifting Captain Driggs to catcher.