Drexel ekes past Baseball in an ugly contest

Penn's fielders fared well despite the hilly outfield. An old golfing tip is to look at the blowing leaves on the trees -- as opposed to sprinkling grass clippings in the air -- to get a good gauge of the wind. But in the first few innings of yesterday's Penn-Drexel baseball matchup, it seemed that the Dragons (18-16-1) outfielders paid no attention to the flag atop the rightfield pole. The flag was indicating the wind was gusting out of the park, and Drexel outfielders misplayed three hits which skidded past them for extra bases in the top of the third inning. The Quakers jumped out to a 7-2 lead, but squandered it and lost, 12-11. The wind wasn't the only interesting aspect of the outfielders' play. Drexel Field, located at 43rd and Powelton, has an outfield that features slopes and valleys -- diverse enough to make catching routine fly balls a challenge. "You've got to be aware of your footing and really be aggressive," Quakers centerfielder Drew Corradini said. "I didn't really have any problems out there with the hills or any of that." While the Penn outfield was performing to expectation, the pitching was not. But being a mid-week game, the coaching staff again let its younger pitchers get their baptisms by fire, starting with Anthony Napolitano, who lost the Red and Blue's 7-2 lead in the bottom of the third. Although none of Drexel's seven runs in the inning were earned, Napolitano was hit, and hit hard. More to his demise was the number of balls thrown in the dirt, including two catcher Ralph Vasami could not block. The freshman hurler faced nine batters and survived just 2/3 of an inning. Replacing him was Mike Greenwood, the only pitcher to throw yesterday who is a regular weekend starter. Make that was a regular weekend starter. Filling in for Greenwood will probably be junior Ed Kimlin, who should pitch the fourth game of the weekend at Cornell. "Ed Kimlin is obviously the one who has stepped up," Penn coach Bob Seddon said. "But we're not ready to commit totally, because we may need him earlier." Greenwood was able to pick off two batters -- one off first and one from second -- but the Quakers (13-16-1) were not able to get either runner out, as they slid safely into second and third, respectively. Down 12-11, the Red and Blue had a chance to recover in the top of the eighth, when Penn rightfielder Armen Simonian again hit a lead-off double to right-centerfield. Simonian then advanced to third on a Mark Nagata single to right. But Simonian made a baserunning blunder by getting caught in a rundown between third and home. Drexel shortstop Sean Joyce slapped a hard, low-blow tag on Simonian and tensions flared. Coming to defend his teammate with his mouth was Dragons catcher Lou Marchetti. Marchetti then led off the bottom of the inning, with Penn pitcher Travis Arbogast entering the game. With his first pitch, he plunked Marchetti on the back, and both benches jumped to their feet. The umpire gave Arbogast a warning; the Quakers argued he has beaned eight previous batters this year and it was unintentional. "No, I didn't mean to hit him," Arbogast said. "I've been having trouble -- sometimes I leave my arm out and don't follow through all the way. My fastball has a tendency to break in to right-handed hitters anyway. So it's just ironic that there was that little scuffle." With the warnings, however, if Arbogast had hit another batter, Seddon would have been suspended for the next game. Such was the case for Harvard coach Joe Walsh, who after his pitcher nailed a player, was forced to sit out the first game of the Ivy League playoffs against Princeton last year. On the offensive end, the Quakers are, for the most part, hitting the ball, but that isn't stopping the strikeout bug or the team's on-again, off-again ability to sacrifice bunt. The team was unable to lay down a suicide squeeze two weeks ago, but was able to lay five bunts down against Brown. Yesterday, Penn first baseman Russ Farscht struck out three times, and Joe Carlon failed to lay a down crucial bunt, sending each attempt foul. In addition, Corradini tried his usual bunt-for-a-single, but it went foul, ruining the surprise.