Baseball hopes to get back on track at home against Pace

There's nothing like home cookin'. At least that's what the Penn baseball teams hopes. After starting its season 3-7 with 10 road games, the Quakers return to the friendly confines of Bower Field tomorrow for a doubleheader with Pace University. "It's definitely nice to be returning home," Penn coach Bob Seddon said. It's also nice that the Quakers have their two aces, seniors Dan Galles and Ed Haughey, returning to the mound for the noon doubleheader. Penn gave up 13 runs on 16 hits Wednesday at St. Joseph's after stretching deep into its rotation. One problem with the Penn pitching has nothing to do with the pitchers at all. Star catcher Rick Burt, who Seddon called "the key to the success of our pitching staff," is out indefinitely with a sore hamstring. Burt will probably not see action this weekend because the coaching staff wants to make sure he's 100 percent when the Ivy League season starts in two weeks. Even though the Settlers have already beaten the St. Joe's twice this year, the Red and Blue remain confident. "With our aces on the mound, we feel good," Seddon said. "If they hit us, they'll earn it. But they'll throw two pretty good pitchers at us as well. We'll face one righty and one lefty." Seddon has reason for his optimism. Galles, Haughey and the rest of Penn's hurlers were dominant while the team was in Florida over spring break. The losses piled up as the bats were silent and Penn dropped close game after close game. Wednesday the Quakers saw the exact opposite scenario but the same result -- a heartbreaking loss. After rallying from a 9-4 deficit to take the lead, Penn gave up several late runs and suffered another close loss in the late innings. Seddon talked about making some changes to get senior speedster Allen Fischer back into the starting lineup. Sophomore Mark DeRosa had to be moved into Fischer's normal DH spot due to a shoulder injury. DeRosa is one of the team's leading hitters, but Penn sorely misses Fischer's bat and speed on the base paths. Although Seddon has not yet decided exactly how to resolve the situation, he did hint that changes would be made. "Potentially this is a very good baseball team," Seddon said. "But we have to stop talking about it. We have to do it. It's time to start putting things together."