Quakers get out brooms

Baseball sweeps Cornell While the rest of campus was frolicking in the Quad, the Penn baseball team got its brooms out and did a little spring cleaning at Bower Field this Fling weekend. The Quakers used dominant pitching and clutch hitting to sweep a four-game set with Cornell and vault themselves from the cellar into first place in the Gehrig Division. Penn now controls its own destiny during the stretch run for the league crown. In an about face from last weekend's New England road trip when the Quakers (17-9-1, 9-5 Ivy League) gave up 44 runs in four games, the Penn staff produced four complete-game gems, allowing only three runs on 13 hits all weekend. Junior Ed Haughey set the pace for the Quakers in Saturday's opener against the Big Red (7-14, 5-7). After Cornell's leadoff batter hit a rolling single up the middle and advanced to second on a wild pitch, Haughey settled down to record 10 strikeouts en route to a two-hit shutout. Haughey was supported by an offensive onslaught that was highlighted by sophomore Mike Shannon's second-inning grand slam. Shannon sent a 2-0 fastball 370 feet over the left-field fence to clear the bases and give Haughey and the Quakers a 7-0 lead that would never be tested as they coasted to a 14-0 victory. "I was looking for it all the way," Shannon said. "With the bases loaded, you're thinking home run until you get a strike on you." Shannon's heroics were not done for the day. Perhaps the multidimensional sophomore's greatest moments came in game two, when he made his first career Ivy League start. It would be a memorable one. Shannon pitched nearly flawless baseball while holding the Big Red hitless until one out in the sixth, when senior John Telford doubled down the left-field line to break up the no-no. Although a clearly fatigued Shannon lost his shutout in the seventh, he finished off Cornell and claimed his first-ever league victory and complete game by a 12-2 margin. "When Mike shows up and is feeling good, nobody can beat him," sophomore catcher Rick Burt said. "He was just a better pitcher than they were hitters. He was able to keep them completely off balance by throwing three different breaking pitches for strikes." In that second contest, the Quakers pounded out 12 hits and capitalized on eight Big Red errors to score early and often. In fact, Penn was the recipient of 14 unearned runs on Saturday alone. Although Cornell would not be as kind defensively on Sunday, it wouldn't matter. The Quaker pitching staff would not be any kinder to Cornell's slumping hitters, who managed just 13 hits (versus 12 errors) and barely a .100 batting average on the weekend. "Collectively, we just haven't been swinging the bats," Cornell coach Tom Ford said. "But you have to give credit to Penn. They have great pitchers and they were making the plays all weekend." Junior pitcher Dan Galles, not wanting to be outdone by his fellow hurlers, tossed a complete game two-hit shutout of his own. Doing his best imitation of Shannon, Galles did not surrender a hit until Cornell third baseman Jack Frame doubled with two gone in the fifth. Galles was only really in trouble in the sixth, when he surrendered two two-out walks and a line single to right. But senior Tim Shannon threw a two-hop strike to the plate, nailing Big Red pitcher Jared Cottle and washing away any Cornell hopes of a comeback. Penn's defense was so that impressive diving catches and outfield assists seemed merely routine. The brilliant pitching and defensive effort was desperately needed by the Penn offense Sunday. Quieter bats and respectable Big Red fielding held Penn to a pair of fourth-inning runs on RBI singles by Mike Shannon and junior designated hitter Rob Naddelman. Thanks to Galles, it was all the Quakers would need. "I was able to keep my fastball down and that let me use my changeup as my out pitch," Galles said. Good arm speed and control of breaking pitches would be a key for junior pitcher Lance Berger in the series finale as well. Berger used a pinpoint-accurate fastball and three off-speed pitches to keep Cornell's hitters off balance. Although Berger could only keep the Big Red hitless into the fourth, he successfully protected Penn's meager lead throughout. After working out of a bases-loaded jam with the Quakers up 1-0 in the fourth, Berger would finally give up a run in the sixth. With Penn ahead 2-0 and one out, a single to left was sandwiched around two walks to load the bases. Although a fielder's choice at second base scored a run, Berger held Penn's tenuous one-run lead by getting the next batter to bounce to third. "I just told Berger not to fool around out there when I went out to talk to him in the sixth," Penn pitching coach Bill Wagner said. "He was getting in trouble because he was getting behind batters. I just tried to calm him down. He was thinking too much." That sixth inning was as close as Cornell would get. The Quakers added one more run in their half of the sixth on first baseman Allen Fischer's RBI single. After giving up two cheap singles to open the seventh, Berger retired three straight hitters without allowing another ball out of the infield, claiming a 3-1 win, and raising his record to 3-1 on the season. Behind these four brilliant performances by the resurgent Penn staff, the Quakers were able to sweep the Big Red all the way back to Ithaca and themselves to the head of the Gehrig Division standings.