Lehigh engineers two late rallies

Quakers suffer sweep at Bower Field Entering yesterday's baseball doubleheader with Lehigh, Penn expected to gain momentum for this weekend's clash with Gehrig Division-leader Cornell. After dropping three of four games over the weekend, the Quakers thought the 9-16 Engineers would make ideal guests. For the first three innings at Bower Field, Penn's expectations seemed realistic. The Quakers took an early 2-0 lead courtesy of walks, Lehigh miscues and timely hitting from Penn's hitting machine, Mike Shannon (4 for 7 on the day, double, triple, 1 RBI). With Alex Hayden in perfect control on the mound, everything seemed to be going Penn's way. But then the game went awry. In the top of the fourth inning, Lehigh started to roll. The Engineers took advantage of a seeing-eye single, a perfectly placed bunt and an error to score two runs and tie the game. From then on, the day belonged to Lehigh. The Engineers swept Penn, 3-2 and 5-3. "After losing three out of four over the weekend, we were hoping to gain some momentum going into this next weekend," Shannon said of Penn's upcoming four-game series with the Big Red. "Obviously, the bats weren't there. I don't know what to say about these games. There's no way Lehigh should be on the same field with us." Shannon's sentiments were echoed by most of the team. The Quakers were at a loss for words trying to explain how Penn (11-15) was swept by the Engineers (11-16). "We should have beaten Lehigh," Penn coach Bob Seddon said. "They're not a good team. We're a better team than Lehigh, at least we think we are." From that fourth inning and into the early evening, it was not the Engineers who beat Penn. Instead, the Quakers beat themselves with mental errors, poor hitting and physical mishaps in the field. In the fourth, with men on first and second, an easy double-play ball rolled right between Joe Carlon's legs at third base. The Engineers took advantage of that freshman miscue to score two runs. The following inning, Lehigh scored the winning run behind three walks and a fielder's choice. When game one went into the record book as a 3-2 Lehigh victory, Penn had collected just four hits while committing three errors. "Everything magnifies if you don't score runs," Seddon said. "We're just not hitting. To be polite and nice about it, we're in a drought. We're struggling." In the second half of yesterday's twin bill, the Quakers continued to struggle. Although freshman Armen Simonian looked impressive on the mound, giving up just one run on three hits in four innings, Penn labored from the plate and in the field. In the top of the seventh inning, with the score notched at three, A B Fischer, who replaced Simonian in the fifth, found himself in a jam. Fischer walked the leadoff hitter. Then Matthew Rosato bunted the ball back to the mound. But on the advice of his freshman catcher, David Corleto, Fischer threw to second base -- safe. But even after this mental error, assistant coach Bill Wagner had a plan. With the infield rotating to cover a possible bunt, Fischer attempted to pick off Daniel Kulp at second base. However, the ball bounced in the dirt and rolled into the outfield. After the runners advanced to second and third, Brian Yost hit a sacrifice fly, and then Gregory Boye executed a suicide squeeze to give Lehigh a two-run advantage. The lead had come on a walk, error and fielder's choice -- all the game-winning inning lacked was a Lehigh hit. "We're not doing the little things that make the difference," Seddon said. "We're making too many errors. We played four freshmen and it showed." But even down by two runs in the bottom of the seventh, Penn had a chance. Rob Naddelman led off the inning with a Texas League single to right field, but again the Quakers seemed to be lacking mental awareness. As Naddelman rounded first, Rosato nailed the senior from right field. The Penn miscue grew in importance since Tim Henwood and Sean Turner connected on back-to-back singles with two out in that final inning. Then Shannon was coerced into a routine ground ball to the shortstop. "It's disappointing, very disappointing," Seddon said. "We're not playing well. We're struggling from the plate, which was our fear, because obviously the pitching is there."

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