Pitching has been a mystery for Penn baseball this season. One day, the Quakers look great on the mound and put themselves in position to win. On another day, they break down, giving up multiple runs per inning and putting the game out of reach.
Such was the story this weekend.
Against Harvard, Saturday, the Red and Blue gave up 22 runs in the doubleheader. The very next day, the team gave up just eight runs combined in a doubleheader against Dartmouth and fared much better in the end.
The unpredictable Quakers (13-14, 4-4 Ivy) lost to Harvard (10-15, 4-2) twice by scores of 12-9 and 10-9, and split the series with Dartmouth (12-12, 4-4), winning 9-5 and losing in extra innings 3-2.
Sophomore Vince Voiro pitched a complete game in Penn’s win yesterday, yielding just seven hits on and five earned runs. Voiro improved to 2-1 on the season.
“I like to try and see if I can go the distance in seven-inning games,” Voiro said. “I try to get to at least the sixth inning, so that we’re using at most two pitchers in those games.”
Voiro attributed some of his success yesterday to the umpire calling balls and strikes.
“I faced a lot of left-handed hitters today, and the umpire had a wider strike zone than most,” Voiro said. “I was able to utilize that consistently and put balls on the outer portion of the plate. I was able to pitch away heavily and then come back inside to back them off the plate.”
Starting pitcher Todd Roth also had a solid outing against Dartmouth in game two of the doubleheader. The senior hurler gave up just one earned run on five hits in 6.1 innings.
Last week’s Big 5 Pitcher of the Week, Reid Terry came on to relieve Roth and dazzled in 3.2 innings. The senior co-captain yielded just one hit and gave up no runs. Penn lost the game on a walk-off single in the bottom of the 11th inning with two outs.
“I just like the way we competed,” coach John Cole said. “We came out on the short end, but it was a great ballgame.”
Saturday was a different story for the Quakers. In game one, Penn was up 8-2 after an eight-run fourth inning but gave all eight of these runs back over the next two frames. The team ultimately lost to Harvard by one, after freshman Emilio Pastor was tagged out at third on a fielder’s choice in the very last inning of the game.
Junior starter Paul Cusick gave up nine earned runs and walked six batters in just five innings in the second game on Saturday. Junior Jeremy Maas hit Penn’s first grand slam of the year in the top of the ninth, but the Quakers were already too far back at that point.
“Sometimes you just hit a rough patch,” Voiro said. “In the second game against Harvard, there was one inning where we just lost our touch on the ball. There were certain parts of each game where we had letdowns.”
The Red and Blue take on LaSalle and Ivy rival Cornell this week. At 4-4, the Quakers can still make a run at the Ivy League title.
“We have a huge home stand coming up,” Cole said. “We got to make some ground up on Columbia, and we have to play solid all week.”
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