Baseball looks to snap 5-game 'L' streak

Going just 2-7 in Florida, the Penn men's baseball team needs a win today against the scrappy West Chester Rams. If Penn men's baseball coach Bob Seddon boarded a plane to Florida with standard 120-over-80 blood pressure, his juices were undoubtedly flowing all the much faster by the end of spring break. The Quakers' 2-7 road trip paralleled Penn's 3-6 clip in 1997 and the team's 2-6 start in 1996. Failure to hold late-inning leads, however, made this year's losses more disappointing that the outcome of past trips. Penn hopes to have more success up North as it begins its home season against West Chester at 3 p.m. today at Bower Field. The Red and Blue dropped its final five games on the road trip -- three times squandering a lead after the seventh inning stretch. "Our team didn't play up to our potential," Seddon said. "We let some games get away that we should have won." A 13.82 bullpen earned run average coupled with just a .277 team average at the plate and a team average of 3.1 errors per game leaves the Quakers room to improve all around the diamond. Center fielder Drew Corradini was named all-tourney, hitting .400 for the trip, while Penn designated hitter Mark Nagata batted .389 with 3 home runs and 15 RBI. And shortstop Glenn Ambrosius hit .353, scoring a team high 11 runs. But the rest of the cupboard was bare. Second baseman Joe Carlon (.289), and first baseman Russ Farscht (.261) were the only other Quakers able to average a hit better than once in four at-bats. Freshman Ron Rolph hit .500, but the reserve outfielder came to the plate just 12 times. In contrast, teams hit .347 against Penn pitching. "Nagata, Ambrosius and Corradini were the only three guys who really stood out," Seddon said. "But that's not enough to turn our record from 2-7 to 7-2. The Quakers' nine-game, nine-day road trip began March 6 in St. Petersburg, Fla., with a 7-5 loss to Eckerd College. Eckerd got the best of the Quakers again the following night, scoring 15 runs in the final two frames en route to a 21-9 win. The Red and Blue then rebounded to sweep a pair in Daytona Beach, shellacking Robert Morris, 24-5, and edging Miami (Ohio), 7-4. But Penn's record went South in Winter Park, Fla., as the road trip came to a crash landing with five straight losses -- 14-12 to Penn State, 7-5 to Rollins College, 15-0 to Miami of Ohio, 19-1 to Penn State, and finally 9-7 to Rollins. "It was a total breakdown," Nagata said. "We were all in amazement. Maybe it was too much at first." If the Florida competition overwhelmed the Quakers, this afternoon's home opener at Bower Field against West Chester University gives Seddon's club a chance to step toward redemption. Led by skipper Jack Hopkins, the Rams play hard-nosed scrappy baseball. West Chester was just 11-25 overall in 1997, but split a doubleheader from Penn last season. And in 1996, Hopkins' Rams swept the Quakers. "They're a pain in the neck to us," Seddon said. "We'll always see their best pitcher, even in a middle of the week game." This afternoon, junior Ray Broome takes the hill for Penn. The 6'4" southpaw was shelled last season, going 0-1 with a 7.16 ERA. This season, however, Broome has swept these numbers into the dust. In nine and a third innings pitched this season, the lefty has cut his ERA to 2.89, second-best on the team. Freshman Matthew Hepler and sophomore Sean McDonald will succeed Broome on the mound, with Simonian slated for the final innings if his right arm is no longer sore from throwing eight innings a week ago. Penn's skipper will also give Kevin Johnson a rare start in left field, replacing Trent Nagata. Johnson went 2-for-8 with an RBI in Florida. The sophomore is a dark horse in the five-way fight to win the third outfield job. While once again today's result has no implications on Penn's Ivy League season, a win this afternoon will go a long way in repairing the confidence of Penn, a team that could have returned to Philadelphia 7-2 if Florida games were all cut three innings short.

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