Shannon to take hill for Baseball

For the second consecutive day, the Penn baseball team attempts to get in an out-of-conference midweek game. With yesterday's game against Philadelphia Textile postponed because of inclement weather, the Quakers try to successfully make their way on to Bower Field today at 3 p.m. Standing in Penn's way will be a Coppin State team that has not had a winning season since 1960. Since yesterday's game is not likely to be rescheduled any time soon, the Quakers are attempting to arrange a doubleheader against city rival La Salle Sunday. If these games are scheduled, yesterday's cancellation may actually be a blessing for a Penn team searching for its bats with the Ivy season just around the corner. "I'm glad we didn't have to play today," Penn coach Bob Seddon said. "If we can get the games in on Sunday, it will be perfect. I was looking for rain today. At 11 [a.m.] the game was off. It would have been tough to get the field into shape." While they have gotten off to another slow start this season, the Eagles (7-14) are 6-0 in the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference and have played an extremely tough out-of-conference schedule. Already this season, Coppin State has taken the field against Duke, William and Mary, Providence, Virginia and Maryland. Still, five of Coppin's wins were over a weak Howard team and the only other two came over Mount St. Mary's and North Carolina A&T.; The Quakers feel confident they can capture their fifth win of the year. The Penn bats should be in full swing against a Coppin State pitching staff that ended last season with an ERA above 9.5. The two best hurlers of that bunch are left-hander Brian Pisani and sophomore Emmanuel Fitzgerald. It is likely the Quakers will see one of these two on the mound today. Pisani, the team's ace, finished last season with a 2-11 record and a 7.16 ERA. Coming out of the bullpen for the Eagles will be freshman Harry Martin. For Penn, Mike Shannon will take the hill. Shannon was scheduled to start yesterday, but due to the rain-out the rotation was pushed back a day. Shannon will likely improve on his 3.27 ERA today, as Coppin does not return a single .300 hitter from a year ago. Shannon will go a maximum of five innings today before turning the controls over to senior Lance Berger. Senior Mike Martin may also get some work out of the bullpen. One player who could give the Penn pitchers some trouble is Travis Thornton, a freshman outfielder and pitcher for the Eagles. In addition to posting a 3-1 mark on the mound, Thornton is off to a furious start at the plate. The youngster is tearing up opposing pitchers with a .466 batting average, while stealing five bases, hitting six doubles and ripping three home runs. Sophomore shortstop Mark DeRosa will not be able to go today, but he is almost back in playing shape. One player who will be back is junior catcher Rick Burt, who has missed the last four games. All in all, today's game should give the Quakers a good chance to fine-tune their game for the upcoming Ivy campaign. College junior Brian Upbin contributed to this story.