Quakers win three of four weekend games

As the scoreboard indicated an error after Penn shortstop Mark DeRosa's throw to first base from deep in the hole was in the dirt, the Quakers fans breathed a sigh of relief. It was the top of the sixth inning of the second game of Saturday's doubleheader against Siena, and Penn sophomore Armen Simonian still had a no-hitter going. Although the Saints would taint Simonian's pitching line with two hits and a run in the seventh inning, the two Siena contests, as well as one game in yesterday's doubleheader with Coppin State, were clearly dominated by Penn's pitchers. The Quakers swept Siena with a 2-0 win and 3-2 victory. And after dropping the first game, 5-3, to Coppin State, Penn came back to win the nightcap by a 5-2 margin. In the three victories, however, it was clear that neither team could rattle the Penn hurlers. Simonian, who has struggled recently on the offensive front, simply disabled the Saints' batters with all of his pitches. "All three of my pitches were working," Simonian said. "My fastball was decent?my other pitches, the off-speed pitches, were working well. It's rare, as a pitcher, when you get all three pitches working. But in my mind, if I get all three pitches working, it's heaven." The unfortunate part of Simonian's efforts on the mound was that the Quakers bats were as cold as the Saturday afternoon air, and after seven innings, the game was tied at one. The Quakers were lucky to have even tied the game in what would have been their last at-bat. Penn leftfielder Jeremy Milken scored from third with two outs in the bottom seventh on a wild pitch by Siena pitcher Jeremy Clausi. Simonian continued to work the extra innings, but in the ninth, he gave up another run to give the Saints a 2-1 edge. DeRosa started the bottom of the inning with a double and advanced to third on a wild pitch. Derek Nemeth singled to score DeRosa, only to be driven in by Joe Carlon with a game-winning double. Staff ace Mike Shannon led off the doubleheader with a shutout in the first game, scattering six hits over five innings. As Sunday brought sunny skies and warmer temperatures, the Quakers bats also heated up, collectively batting .352 for the day. But Coppin State quickly put runs on the board in the first game, scoring two in the first and three more in the third. Penn pitcher Alex Hayden, the Quakers' only ineffective hurler over the weekend, was replaced by Mike Greenwood after three innings of work. Greenwood shut out Coppin State for the remainder of the game. The Red and Blue hung around, scoring in the first and third frames -- narrowing the Eagles' margin to 5-2. Penn tried to take advantage of the cooled-off Coppin State sluggers and manufactured another run in the sixth when Nemeth walked, stole second and eventually scored on a Milken groundout. In the bottom of the seventh, with the score still 5-3, Penn put two men on base, and after an intentional walk to Nemeth with two outs, the slumping Simonian stepped up hoping to at least tie the game with a base hit. But Simonian dribbled the ball bounced harmlessly to Coppin State shortstop Emmanuel Fitzgerald, who flipped it to second for the final out. With Simonian sitting out the next game, A.B. Fischer took his turn on the mound, as Penn pitching once again dominated. Given an early cushion, Fischer looked strong the entire game with great velocity on his fastball even as late as the seventh inning. "I felt pretty good," Fischer said. "My curveball was breaking. I threw a lot of changeups, which I don't usually do, because my curveball is usually my best pitch. I felt pretty strong. It's probably the best I've felt this year." Fischer did let up two runs in the fourth and fifth innings, but settled down to throw two perfect innings to close the game. Penn catcher Rick Burt also had a good weekend. He had four hits, including a 3-for-4 effort in the first Coppin State game and threw out both runners who attempted to steal on him during the weekend.