Baseball swept by Harvard, brooms Big Green

The Penn baseball team's weekend split shows promise. But it may be too little, too late. If it is going to be done, it is going to be done the hard way. The Penn baseball team (9-15-1, 6-6 Ivy League) left for New England last Friday, knowing that the weekend had a different tone after four Ivy losses to Yale and Brown at home two weeks ago -- a tone verging on necessity to win. In Cambridge, the Quakers lost two games Friday, 8-4, 9-0, to a Harvard team (15-7, 7-1) that has had little trouble with Ivy opponents this season. The following day, Penn was able to rebound with a sweep of underachieving Dartmouth (14-8, 2-6) in Hanover, N.H., 5-4, 8-4, to stay even for the weekend. "I think two weeks ago if you had said we'd split this weekend two-two, we'd be happy with it, because this was a tough weekend," Penn coach Bob Seddon said. Playing the games a day early because of the holiday weekend, the Quakers headed to Hanover Saturday, needing to rebound against the Big Green after being swept by Harvard. After being swept by the Crimson, the importance of the weekend and the season rested entirely on the outcome of two games. "I felt personally that we never got into our game," Penn centerfielder Drew Corradini said. "After those two teams, we knew it was gut check time. We had to get the two wins at Dartmouth -- our season was riding on it." Corradini and the rest of the Quakers played the Big Green into extra innings in the first end of the doubleheader Saturday, winning 5-4. Penn sophomore Jeremy McDowell took it upon himself to get Penn its first run in nine innings of play, with his third homer of the year. Corradini then kept the Quakers' third inning alive with his first homer of the year, extending the early Penn lead to 2-0. One of the biggest contributions of the weekend came from the sophomores of the Penn pitching staff. In game one, Sean McDonald gave the Quakers a desperately needed boost on the mound. McDonald went eight innings, allowing three runs and striking out six earning the win. "Our pitching staff really stacked it up and pitched their asses off against that Dartmouth team," Corradini said. "We've just got to get some momentum built up going into this Cornell weekend." The second game was led by another sophomore "pitching his ass off" in the late afternoon. Anthony Napolitano relieved starter Ron Rolphe in the third inning and went on to earn his first Ivy League win. After surrendering three runs in 2 1/3 innings, the freshman Rolphe gave way to Napolitano who was able to go the distance. The sophomore yielded only one run on five hits in 2 2/3 innings, while striking out five. "Every year, Dartmouth is a team that has a chance to win and beat you," Corradini said. "You obviously don't want to be that team whose chances they are spoiling to go to the post season." The hit parade continued for the Quakers in the second-game win as well, as four starters tallied two or more hits. Penn senior Armen Simonian ignited the team with a three runs batted in. Simonian also entered the Penn home run derby with his third of the year. The two wins were timely and needed after the sweep by Harvard Friday. "Right now we are just trying to stay within four losses of Princeton, that way when we go into that final series, we hold our own destiny," Corrandini said. The Quakers' need for wins was made necessary by letting at least one win slip away at O'Donnell Field against the Crimson. The two Penn losses came against the best pitching staff in the Ivies, and the services of two tough right handers. In the first game, the Quakers faced Harvard junior Andrew Duffel, who was matched by Penn starter Simonian most of the game. Seddon felt his squad played well enough to win, and let it slip away. "Harvard is not as good as they were last year. They are good enough to win the division and probably the league, but they can be beaten," Seddon said. "They just know how to win with this particular group of athletes." Duffell shut down the potent Penn offense for most of the game, allowing only one run in the first six innings. The final three runs came in the seventh, as a tired Duffell tried to complete his work. Simonian stuck with Duffel while the Penn offense tried to get breaks and score runs, but was unable to hold the Crimson late, as they exploded for six runs in the fifth and sixth innings. One of the highlights for the Quakers was the eighth home run of the season by Penn second baseman Joe Carlon. The homer put Carlon four away from the Penn record in a season of 12. "Your really have got to tip your hat to a team when they play as well as [Harvard] did," Corradini said. "They made some spectacular plays in the field. They were make diving catches all over the field." The second game was that much more difficult for Penn. Another Harvard junior, Garett Vail, had even more success -- handing Penn its first Ivy shutout of the year in a 9-0 loss. Vail allowed only four hits in seven innings. "They did nothing wrong -- we basically did, and we made mistakes, and it beat us," Seddon said. The weekend split with the Big Green and the Crimson was tainted by four losses a week before. But the strong pitching performance Saturday by two young arms give the Quakers hope for next weekend's four-game series with Cornell. Combined with the imminency of the teams home run record being broken (the record for a season is 37, with this year's club standing at 35), the hopes of scraping up four wins to stay in contention remain alive. "We are a team that streaks, and right now we have just got to keep winning," Corradini said.