Penn has Gehrig on the mind

By Justin Feil The Penn baseball team heads into this weekend's homestand at Bower Field against Princeton with hopes of a little dZj^ vu. Last year, the Quakers needed to win just two out of four games against Princeton to advance to the Ivy League championships. Penn got swept, then proceeded to lose the one-game playoff. "It's in the back of our minds, but we're a whole different team now," Penn junior Mark Nagata said. "We do believe it can be done, since they did it to us last year." Although the Tigers really need three wins against the Quakers to wrap up the Gehrig Division title, a split of the weekend's two doubleheaders would put them in perfect position to wrap up their second title in a row. Penn coach Bob Seddon explained the possibilities for this weekend. If the Quakers win less than two games, Princeton will clinch the Gehrig Division crown. If the teams split, the Quakers must win next weekend in the continuation of the Columbia game that was called because of darkness while Princeton must lose three of four to a weak Cornell team. Three wins would give the Quakers great confidence and four wins would probably turn everything around for Penn, and nearly guarantee them the title. But for now, the bitter memory of last year lingers in the back of every Penn player's head as Saturday and Sunday's noon doubleheaders approach. "I think everyone's been waiting since last year to play these games," Penn shortstop Joe Carlon said. "There is a lot of bitterness and a lot of emotion that goes along with these games. Not only does this game mean something for this year, but we have last year's memories." Carlon's play, both in the field and at the plate, will be crucial to the Quakers' success. Carlon has seen his batting average climb steadily to its current .358 Ivy League average. He voiced his concern over Penn's tendency to beat itself in several games during the past few weeks. Pitching coach Bill Wagner also emphasized the importance of playing mistake-free baseball. "We have to keep our walks to a minimum, we have to play flawless defense and offensively, obviously, we can't afford to not to make contact; we can't have any mental mistakes running the bases." With so much on the line, it's easy to see how much more focused the Quakers will have to be for these games than they have been in some others. Wagner continued: "Every time we have an opportunity to make the big play, we have to make it, and every time we have to come through with a clutch hit-and-run or a suicide squeeze or a base hit with two outs, we have to do it. We're not going to get second opportunities too often in these games coming up. They're the kind of things that need to be embedded in these guys' minds." The Quakers will also rely heavily on juniors Armen Simonian and Nagata, who Carlon described as "the catalysts of the team all year." Nagata, with a .512 Ivy League batting average, continues to lead the race for the Blair Bat title (highest average in Ivy games) by 40 points. Simonian has been a leader at the plate and on the mound. On the Quakers team, he is second in batting average, at .415, and leads all starting pitchers in earned run average, at 2.25. He is expected to pitch the opening game at noon tomorrow and fulfill the primary goal outlined by Nagata, to "set the tone for the weekend." Penn's lineup will not change much from past weeks, with freshman Kevin McCabe starting in rightfield when Simonian pitches. Wagner and Seddon have not finalized the rest of the starting rotation, but in all likelihood, it will consist of senior A. B. Fischer, junior Ed Kimlin and either senior Alex Hayden or senior Mike Greenwood, who pitched very well last year against the Tigers, and according to Wagner, regained mastery of his breaking ball and change-up in his last outing on Tuesday against Lehigh. Princeton's team is near the bottom of the Ivy League in overall batting average, but has several hitters the Quakers will have to stop. Junior Michael Hazen leads the Tigers with a .392 average, while brothers Justin Griffin and Asher Griffin are hitting .294 and .287, respectively. All three are threats to run when they reach base. Among them, they have a combined 23 stolen bases. Sophomore Matt Evans is second on Princeton's team with a .375 batting average. On the hill, the Tigers boast sophomore lefty Tim Killgoar, who has been Ivy League Pitcher of the Week the past two weeks. He's been nearly unhittable, giving up just three total hits in his last two starts. Right-hander Ben Smith and freshman John Tedeman will probably join senior Brian Volpp in starting the three other games. Despite recent strong performances by the Tigers' pitchers, Penn feels comfortable knowing that all four games will be in the Quakers' backyard. And they have last year to think of. "I think it will help us knowing that we have a mission we have to accomplish," Wagner said.