Newcomers to infield lead Baseball at St. Joseph's

Transfer Glen Ambrosious and sophomore Russ Farscht have been hot at the plate since returning to the East Coast. After defrosting its ice-cold bats over the weekend, the Penn baseball team looks to notch its second victory over St. Joseph's in less than a week. It was only six days ago when the Quakers (7-7), out-dueled the Hawks (6-10-1) to a 2-1 victory. Thanks to some timely hitting in the late innings by Mark Nagata and Jeremy Milken and clutch pitching by Todd Mahoney and Travis Arbogast, Penn successfully pulled out a "W." Since returning to the East Coast, the Quakers have won four of their last five games. Much of Penn's recent success can be attributed to a couple of sophomores. Both Russ Farscht and Glen Ambrosius had 6-for-15 weekends against Navy and West Chester and have helped the Quakers return to the .500 mark. Farscht was originally expected to fill the centerfield void left by second team All-Ivy selection Sean Turner. According to Penn coach Bob Seddon, Farscht, who currently has the second-highest Quakers batting average (.343), has "nicely replaced" Turner, Penn's second leading hitter (.398) in 1996. A native of Marlboro, N.J., Farscht was pretty much a non-factor last spring. Only appearing in 14 games and batting .222, Farscht headed into the offseason determined to improve his play. "I played summer ball in a league in New Jersey," Farscht said. "I think it was the long hours of practice plus playing against a lot of tough competition and gaining valuable experience that has helped me." The work ethic of Farscht was so intense over the summer that when "Fall Ball" rolled around in 1996, Seddon felt his new centerfielder "probably had the best fall of any player." While Farscht was finding out the true meaning of "pine time" here at Penn last year, Ambrosius had a falling out with the baseball coach at West Virginia. Following one semester with the Mountaineers, the Collingswood, N.J., native decided to head back north. "I was looking for a more challenging academic environment," Ambrosius said. "When I visited Penn, this seemed like the right school for me. It had a nice combination of good athletics and academics." In the 9-2 victory over Navy on Saturday, Ambrosius went 2-for-4 and knocked in two runs. The following day, the third baseman exhibited his power by slamming a two-run home run over the left field wall in the 9-8 Penn loss to West Chester. Ambrosius is also tied for the team lead in hits with 15 and has proved to be the speediest Quaker on the base paths with five stolen bases in as many attempts. "Glen has only been in the program a few months and he has adjusted very well," Seddon said. "He has some things he has to work on, but right now Glen is batting second in our order and Russ is batting third and together they have really helped us." Last spring, Latshaw-McCarthy Field, home of the Hawks' baseball squad, proved to be a pleasant trip for the Quakers. Up in Northwest Philly, Penn rocked St. Joe's, 18-4, thanks in part to this year's captain, Joe Carlon, who had a two-run dinger to go with three other hits on the day. Carlon, who has struggled at the plate this season (.163), suffered a temporary setback when he was nailed in the wrist of his throwing hand in the second game versus West Chester two days ago. With only five errors in 14 games of play, the junior from Doylestown, Pa., has been the glue holding together the Quakers' infield. "Joe is going to be okay," Seddon said. "The X-rays came back negative and right now it is a day-to-day situation. I will make a gametime decision on whether he will go against St. Joe's, but he should definitely be ready to play this weekend." Aside from Penn's new sources of offense power in Farscht and Ambrosius, St. Joe's knows all to well that Penn's pitching staff can be dominating at times. Last Wednesday against the Hawks, the Quakers hurlers had their "A" game going, only allowing two hits. "They threw four good pitchers at us last time," St. Joe's assistant coach Ken Krslovic said. "They all did a great job. None of them gave in and they obviously shut us down because we only got two hits. Those guys were definitely impressive that day, no doubt about it." Turning attention to the rematch this afternoon, there is an old saying that 'history repeats itself.' And after the hurting Penn put on St. Joe's last April, Penn hopes the timely adage holds true today against the Hawks.