Baseball takes four from Lions

The Penn baseball team had one of those weekends that students experience all too infrequently -- a couple of warm spring days that were both enjoyable and productive. Columbia, which finished second to Penn in the Gehrig Division a year ago, may have had its pennant run ended before it ever began. The Red and Blue swept a doubleheader in New York on Saturday and took two more games from Columbia yesterday at Bower Field, getting off to a 4-0 start in league play. "We're happy to start 4-0," said pitcher A.B. Fischer, who yesterday gave up three runs on five hits while hurling a complete game. "We couldn't ask for anything more." Fischer and the rest of the pitching staff had much to do with that success. In fact, Penn had to use only four pitchers over the entire weekend. Every Quakers starter went the distance, and every one was impressive. "Everyone thought our pitching was bad, because we lost three good starters," said Penn assistant coach Bill Wagner, "But these kids have worked very hard, they're listening, they're making changes and adjustments. They're getting confident." Senior and co-captain Mike Shannon set the tone for the weekend with his performance in the first game on Saturday. Shannon gave up just one hit and struck out nine in the Quakers' 4-1 victory. In the second game, junior lefthander Mike Greenwood scattered five hits over seven innings, and centerfielder Sean Turner hit a home run in a 4-2 Penn win. "We had a great performance by the pitching staff and good defense behind them," Wagner said. That continued yesterday at Bower, with the addition of some clutch hitting. In the opener, with two men on in the bottom of the second, second baseman Joe Carlon sent a low line drive over the leftfield fence to put the Quakers up 3-1. Then sophomore Armen Simonian, who had been nearly flawless in his previous performances, found himself in trouble at times during the middle innings. Columbia third baseman Marc Mezzadri tripled off the right field wall and, one batter later, scored to pull the Lions within a run. The fifth inning was even more dangerous, but Penn managed to come away unscathed. Columbia had runners on second and third with one out when Lions rightfielder Jason Halper bounced one to Carlon. Instead of getting the sure out, Carlon chose to throw home. When Columbia centerfielder -- and freshman -- David Lewis failed to slide, catcher Rick Burt tagged him out. Simonian struck out the next batter, and the Quakers went on to win, 3-2. "Columbia shot themselves in the foot a little bit with their baserunning," said Penn coach Bob Seddon. "The kid didn't slide into home. They beat themselves a little bit." The Lions looked to salvage the final game of the series when John Guilfoy's double scored two runners and gave them a 3-0 lead after three innings. But Fischer settled down, giving up only two hits the rest of the game. "It seemed like I couldn't get into a groove all day," Fischer said. "But I made the pitches when I had to and got the job done." Just making the pitches proved good enough, as the Quakers bats came alive. With two outs in the bottom of the fourth, Lewis made another mistake, misplaying a long drive by Penn designated hitter Mark Nagata that allowed Shannon to score. Then third baseman Derek Nemeth singled, bringing Nagata in from third. "We've got to hit a little bit more," Seddon said, "but we certainly are getting timely hits." One inning later, the Quakers got yet another timely hit. With two outs, Burt coaxed a walk out of Columbia pitcher Eric Rothfeld, fouling off three straight pitches before earning his pass. On Rothfeld's next pitch, Shannon made him pay, hammering the first offering high over the leftfield fence. Penn led for good, 4-3, and Fischer shut down the Lions over the final two innings. "They were really four great college games," Seddon said of the weekend's action. "The pitching was excellent. We had timely hitting, we had good baserunning, and good defense. Defense, good pitching and timely hitting -- that means wins."