Evening star., 1951-06-07
Eastern and Western
Meet Today for Title;
Wilson Nine Upset
By Brion Bell. Jr.

By Brion Bell. Jr.
Defending Champion Eastern
and Western. a school without a
title in any major sport since
1914, meet for the interhigh base
ball crown today at 2:30 in Grit
fifth Stadium.
The Ramblers disposed of
Roosevelt, 9-4, and Western upset
Wilson, 7-3. in the first round of
the play-offs yesterday.
Eastern rules a slight favorite
in today's battle. The RamblerS'
superior defense and power at
the plate Offset Westerns pitch
ing strength.
Western, a rags-to-richeS team
that wasn't expected to have
much this year, slipped into the
playoffs with a So record against
6-2 marks for the other three
tournament teams and wound up
in the finals. Now Coach Billy
Richardson has the job of beat
ing the Ramblers who posted p
4-3 victory over his club in regu-
lar season play.
Richardson Hopes for Rain.
Richardson doesn't mind being
quoted that he's praying for rain
today so he can give Pitcher Lou
Snouffer more rest after the ace
fast-baller stopped Wilson yester-
day. The Raiders are ready with
Roger Turner, tricky Southpaw
who beat Roosevelt on four hits
earlier this year. but Richardson
will see if Snouffer feels like an
iron-man stunt before making his
mound choice.
Coach Bobby Hart may come
back with Sonny Wise, yesterdays
winner. Wise has been the Ram
blers' ace all season. If Sonny
doesn't start. the assignment
probably will fall to Bill King.
Yesterday Wise survived an
early streak of wildness to pitch
four-hit ball-two by the Riders
Alva Grifhth-and his mates came
through with II hits off Lefty
Bill Smith. Eastern scored at least
once in every inning to coast.
Wilson Team Erratic.
Wilson helped its arch rival,
Western-a team the Tigers had
beaten 81 in the regular season
with six damaging errors which
the Raiders combined with eight
hits for enough runs to win.
Snouffer was his usual depend
able self, giving up only six hits
and three walks. Ronnie Shep-
pard and Pete Dommell paced
the Western attack with two sin
giles each.
Notes-EaStern'S Dave Keys led
the days hitterS with three for
four, including long triple, while
his teammates, Jim Fitzgerald,
Jimmy Sullivan and Ted Fones,
got two apiece. Umpire Joe
TereShinski, rugged defensive end
with the Redskins, was the plate
umpire for the Western Wilson
game and drew boos from the
Tiger partisans with a call against
their team on a close play at
home. D.. . All Westerns eight hits
were singles.
Ralph Sta, Eastern center
fielder, hit the longest ball of the
day-a drive up against the right
field fence near the 328-foot mark.
Louise Rushton, sister of
Westerns ShortStop John Rush
ton, was hit on the back of the
head with foul ball. She was
removed to a doctors office but
wasn't thought to be seriously
injured.
The Raiders last interhigh
championship in 1914 was base
ball title gained mainly on Gene
Oewdrop) Gould's expert pitch
ing. Wilson's Dick Harris, son
of the Mats manager, made two
errors at his shortstop position
but turned in the best defensive
play of the day when he leaped
high to spear line drive in the
webbing of his glove and double
a runner off third to retire the
side.
Wise walked five men in Roose-
velt'S second inning and forced
across two runs but gave up only
two passes after that. He struck
out nine.