Baseball drops three of four, ties record

Penn split a doubleheader with Yale and then was swept by Brown, giving it 22 losses to tie a school season record. First the good news. The Penn baseball team stopped a nine-game losing streak last weekend with a win over Yale. And now the bad news. It was the only win of the weekend. The Quakers are now losers of 12 of their last 13 games and are tied for last in the Ivy League. Penn has also tied a school record for most losses in a season with 22. Things started out well enough for Penn (6-22, 3-9 Ivy League), which came into the weekend hoping to win at least three of four. Yale (9-17, 4-4) threw its best pitcher, team captain Mike Finnegan, at the Quakers, but to no avail. Penn hit Finnegan and hit him hard, tagging him for 10 hits and eight runs in 3 1/3 innings en route to a 13-7 triumph. Shawn Spiezio started the day off right for the Quakers. After a single to lead off the game, he stole second. Following a Glen Ambrosius walk, catcher Jeff Gregorio singled home Spiezio. Russ Farscht grounded into a fielder's choice but Ambrosius scored from third to put Penn up 2-0 after the first half-inning. Given an early lead, freshman phenom Mike Mattern turned in another solid performance, going six innings for the victory. With a 5-1 record, Mattern has picked up wins in all but one of the Quakers' victories this season. Penn's bats did not quiet down, eventually running up a 12-1 lead for Mattern going into the bottom of the fifth. Yale appeared as if it might have a chance to come back, scoring two in the fifth and three in the sixth, but freshman Dan Fitzgerald closed the door in the seventh inning, picking up his first collegiate save. Freshman Mark Lacerenza got the start in the nightcap against Yale and worked himself into trouble in the bottom of the third. He walked the No. 9 hitter to start the inning and then miffed a sacrifice bunt attempt to put runners at first and second with no outs. Ben Johnstone then homered for the Elis, giving them an early 3-0 lead. Yale went up 7-1, but a five-run fifth inning off starter Matt McCarthy brought Penn back to within one. The Quakers got a little help in scoring their runs. Anthony Napolitano led off with a single before advancing to second on a passed ball, and then to third on a wild pitch. Jeremy McDowell drew a walk and Kevin Johnson singled home Napolitano. Jim Mullen reached base on an error, which brought in McDowell. Then Ambrosius' sacrifice fly brought in Johnson. Back-to-back doubles by Gregorio and Farscht brought in another run, making the score 7-6. But that was as close as the Quakers would get as the Elis tacked on eight more runs to pull away for a 15-6 win. "It was a heck of a ballgame in the middle innings and then our relief was bad," Penn coach Bob Seddon said. The game also foreshadowed what would lead to Penn's demise the following day on a dismal Sunday afternoon in Providence --Epoor fielding and poor execution at the plate. In the second game against Yale, Penn committed four errors in the field, leading to 11 unearned Yale runs. The Elis managed 15 runs off only 11 hits in the game and Penn left seven men on base, including three in the last inning. The Quakers made the trip to Brown (11-11, 6-2) knowing that they would face a much improved version of last year's Bears squad,Ewhich finished last in the Red Rolfe Division. "They've never been a good team for my 29 years," Seddon said, "but we sensed they were a better team than Yale." Penn starter Sean McDonald got off to a shaky start, giving up a leadoff triple. A sacrifice fly then brought in Brown's first run of the day. McDonald got out of the inning down only 1-0 but he did not fare as well the rest of the day. With pitchers John Dolan, Dave Gonzalez and Jordan Reed unavailable because of injury, McDonald went all six innings, giving up eight runs -- six earned -- on 11 hits. Penn's hitters came up short, stranding 10 men on base -- once again leaving the bases loaded in the last inning. Down 8-4, Napolitano represented the tying run at the plate but flied out to right to end the game. If that game wasn't pretty for Penn, the nightcap was even uglier. The wheels fell off for the Quakers, who were smacked by Brown in a 19-1 defeat. Seddon said the weather mirrored Penn's performance. "The day was nice to start off with but the uglier [our play] got, the colder it got," Seddon said. "We lost big and [starter Matt] Hepler got hit hard." Hepler went 2 1/3 innings, giving up 10 runs on seven hits. Only four of the runs were earned. Freshman Will Clark came in to pitch the remaining 3 2/3 innings, but fared no better. He surrendered nine runs on 10 hits. "He got tattooed and we had to leave him because we had nobody else," Seddon said. An RBI single by Kevin McCabe in the top of the fifth brought in the Quakers' only run of the game, while the Bears scored in every single inning. "The game was ugly," Seddon said. "You wondered how many runs they were going to score." With only eight Ivy League games remaining, Penn needs to stop the bleeding if it hopes to make any waves in the Gehrig Division. "Our team right now is at bottom," Seddon said. "But the difference between the top and bottom is tiny -- hardly any difference. "If they make the plays, we're going to be competitive in every game because no one is that much better."

Please note All comments are eligible for publication in The Daily Pennsylvanian.