Baseball loses slugfest with Philly rival La Salle, 18-17

The Penn baseball team began the game with two homeruns, but the pitching staff was unable to maintain the lead after two. Penn second baseman Joe Carlon led off yesterday afternoon at La Salle for the baseball team by crushing a Demi Derico fastball for his seventh homerun of the season. After Derico got Drew Corrandini and Glen Ambrosius to groundout, the Quakers' big designated hitter, Mark Nagata, took a Derico pitch over the DeVincent Field fence to put the Red and Blue ahead, 2-0. The way Penn seniors torched the baseball, this game looked to be over quickly. After the first inning, the Quakers' maintained a scoring pace of just under two runs per inning -- posting 17 tallies on the line score. But the apparent blowout was not to be, as the contest evolved into a two hour, 45 minute marathon that looked like something out of Coors Field, save the high air pressure. Seventeen was not enough for the Quakers as LaSalle won 18-17. Penn pitchers all afternoon proved unable to retire Explorers (6-17) at the plate. Quakers coach Bob Seddon took the ball out of starter Ray Broome's hands after 0.2 of a inning after Broome was shelacked for five runs on four hits. "Lord knows, he threw the ball 75 miles per hour today," Seddon said. "We hurt ourselves with bonehead plays and pitching." The Quakers (7-13-1) are now losers of six straight and are seeing its potent offense's chance at post-season play evaporating as fast as the speed has disappeared off Broome's fastball. Sophomore John Dolan succeeded Broome on the hill and pitched just slightly better. After four balls to Kevin Ibach giftwrapped an Explorers' run, Dolan got Jon Palumbo -- the eleventh Explorers batter in the inning -- to pop out and retire the side. Dolan stayed in the game to pitch the second and third, allowing two more Explorers to cross the plate. Then, Seddon turned the ball over to freshman righthander Adam Corleto and inserted Adam's older brother, Dave, behind the plate for support. But unlike the 1979 Pittsburgh Pirates, the Corletos were not singing "We are family" on the mound. Will Smith's "Boom, Boom, Boom, Shake the Room" was the more likely tune as Adam was hit hard by La Salle for five runs in three innings. "It doesn't matter who we put on the mound because everyone is struggling," Seddon said, Freshman Nicholas Barnhost took over in the sixth, surrendering a single, triple and a base on balls before Seddon lost patience and called Anthony Napolitano in from the bullpen. The sophomore managed to squeak his way out of the inning, and should have gone two more scoreless. But a costly throwing error by Ambrosius handed La Salle two crucial runs in the eighth, cutting the Quakers lead to one, 17-16. In the top of the ninth, La Salle closer Mike Cavallero shut down the Penn offense, sending the game to the final frame with the Explorers needing one to tie, two to win. With Napolitano having thrown three innings and closer Travis Arbogast in Center City on an interview, Seddon turned to his struggling No. 1 starter, Armen Simonian, to close the door. "Without Travis, Napolitano was the closer in our eyes," Seddon said. "But we brought him in earlier than I wanted." "I pitched more than three innings on Saturday, and it was a bit much," Napolitano said. "Seddon made the right decision." But, Simonian, the Major League prospect surrendered Penn's ninth blown save of 1998 en route to his first loss of the season. La Salle left fielder Barry Lopotan led off with a single, and Tim Slater reached on a fielder's choice. Shortstop Don Quinn, the number eight hitter, singled in the game-tying run. Simonian then got a force out, intentionally walked second baseman Jon Palumbo and retired the catcher on a sacrifice, loading the bases with two outs in the ninth for La Salle cleanup hitter Mike Fuchs. Fuchs lined a single into the outfield -- ballgame over. "Right now we're just not able to stop the bleeding when someone loses the rhythm," Napolitano said. "Once again we blew a lead in the last inning. You can win without pitching, but not consistently," said a frustrated Seddon. "Never in a million years." Offensively, the Quakers one-through-four in the order, had a game that all managers dream about. Carlon, Corrandini, Ambrosius and Nagata were a combined 10-for-24 at the plate, scoring 10 runs and driving in 12. No.8 hitter, freshman third baseman Jim Mullen, looked strong as well with the bat, going 3-for-6 and scoring a triad. But as baseball legend Yogi Berra often said, "pitching is ninety percent of the game." And no matter how potent the Quakers' bats, teams just don't win with ten percent strength.