Strong pitching leads Penn past Dartmouth

Shannon and GreenwoodShannon and Greenwoodallow only 7 combined hits It appears that the best way for the Penn baseball team to forget its problems is to face Ivy League competition. After getting routed 14-3 in Thursday's game against Delaware, the Quakers found themselves mired in a team slump. The young pitching staff, which had been a major team strength when Penn won nine of 10 games to close out March, began showing signs of its age for the first time this season. After often being the recipient of Quakers coach Bob Seddon's praise early in the season, the defense began making costly errors. Even the slightly increased run production from the Penn lineup couldn't prevent the team from compiling a 2-4 record over the past two weeks. But Penn took out its frustrations against Dartmouth in Hanover, N.H. The Quakers dominated the doubleheader on Saturday, shutting out the Big Green 9-0 in the first game before crushing Dartmouth, 17-4, to complete the sweep, pushing the Quakers' record to 16-11 and 8-2 in Ivy League play. The first game belonged to Penn senior captain Mike Shannon. Despite being upstaged by fellow Quakers pitcher Armen Simonian in the early part of the season, Shannon reaffirmed his position as the staff's ace with a two-hit, six-strikeout performance against Dartmouth. The Big Green managed only two singles in Shannon's seven innings of work and had only one other ball leave the infield. It was Shannon's second shutout and fourth complete game of the season as he upped his record to 3-0 in the Ivy League, 4-1 overall. Shannon was equally impressive with the bat, contributing two hits, including his fourth home run of the season, to go along with four RBIs. Shannon raised his average to .500 in Ivy League play. Shortstop Mark DeRosa and third baseman Derek Nemeth also added homers as Penn had its best power output of the season. The Quakers starter for the second game was Mike Greenwood, who filled in for an injured Sean McDonald. Even though he was unsure if he would pitch heading into the weekend, Greenwood responded with a five-hit complete game. Despite struggling with his control and having trouble early in the game, Greenwood settled in and shut out Dartmouth over the final three innings, after Penn opened up an insurmountable lead. The Quakers took advantage of the Big Green's poor pitching and horrible defense, posting their highest run total in the Ivy season so far. While the Dartmouth pitchers allowed 13 hits and seven walks, the fielders contributed five errors, leading to nine unearned runs for the Quakers. Penn also received several solid performances from its hitters. Outfielder Sean Turner continued his torrid hitting with a three-hit, five-RBI performance that included a home run. Nemeth complemented his earlier home run with a two-hit, two RBI performance and Jeremy Milken added two hits and three RBIs. What was most encouraging, though, was the two-run double by right fielder Simonian, who has been struggling at the plate with a .197 average so far. The only downside to Saturday's routs was Penn's continued problems in the field. Although Seddon touted the current Quakers as one of his best defensive teams in his 26 years of coaching, the defense struggled tremendously. Penn fielders have committed an average of two errors per game over the last 11 games, after averaging only one per game through the first 16 games. The Quakers had three errors in each game on Saturday. Fortunately for Penn, the defensive miscues were not too costly as they failed to lead to any unearned runs. Penn missed its chance to continue its stellar offensive and pitching performances on Sunday. The Quakers' scheduled doubleheader against Harvard was postponed until today.