Bats quiet in Baseball's loss at St. Joseph's

The Quakers managed just one extra-base hit in a 6-2 loss to the crosstown rival Hawks. Math has been simple for the Penn baseball team this season. When the Quakers score seven or more runs, they have gone 3-0. But as yesterday's 6-2 loss at St. Joseph's -- ending the Hawk's two game winning streak -- illustrates, when the Quakers score six or fewer runs, they are 0-9. Penn (3-9) never led in the rain-soaked game but kept it close early thanks to the pitching of freshman starter Mark Lacerenza. The Stamford, Conn., native went three innings, striking out four without walking a single batter. But St. Joseph's rookie pitcher Scott Fremont was even more impressive for the Hawks (10-9-1), holding the Quakers to one run on four hits in six innings for his first collegiate win. "The pitchers kept us in it," Penn leftfielder Jeremy McDowell said. "We just didn't hit the ball." One problem for Penn's offense was that the leadoff man only reached base twice. On the other hand, St. Joseph's had leadoff runners on base in five of its eight trips to the plate, including all four frames in which the Hawks scored. "Getting the leadoff man on is a huge plus," McDowell said. "That they scored 80 percent of the time should tell you that much. You can hit and run, try to steal then, and sometimes with outs on the board you can't do as much." The Hawks certainly did take advantage of their opportunities for adventure on the basepaths, stealing five bases in seven attempts on the afternoon. The running game also kept the Hawks out of the double play. Will Clark, who pitched from the fourth inning on for the Quakers, absorbed his second loss of the season despite recording seven ground-ball outs. With rain falling at Elmwood Park, Penn was somewhat fortunate that the ground balls did not cause more trouble than they did. The Quakers committed two errors, a number could have been significantly higher considering the bad weather. "It really didn't have that much of an effect," Penn captain Glen Ambrosius said. "The dirt was muddy but the grass didn't make the ball as slippery as I thought it would." Penn -- whose last loss came against Navy on March 13 -- did not have a bad game in the field or on the mound. The Quakers' struggles yesterday were all related to their performance at the plate. "Offensively, we didn't show up," McDowell said. "Their pitchers were getting ahead of us and it's tough to hit when the other team is making good pitches and you're down one strike, two strikes." Ambrosius tried to make things happen himself in the eighth inning, as he socked a home run to left field off of Hawks senior Mike Gondos. The senior shortstop's second round-tripper of the year tied him with third baseman Jim Mullen for the team lead. "The first pitch he threw me was a fastball," Ambrosius said. "I was right on it and fouled it back so I thought he'd go off-speed. He did -- he threw a hanging curveball and I got it pretty good." Unfortunately for Penn, it was Ambrosius' only hit of the game. In fact, no Quaker had more than one hit yesterday. The homer was also the only extra-base hit on the day for Penn, which saw its best opportunity to take the lead go by the boards in the fourth. Fremont broke one of the game's cardinal rules by walking Penn first baseman Russ Farscht to start the inning. Curiously, cleanup hitter Kevin Johnson then bunted Farscht to second base. McDowell followed with a walk and then Chris May flied out to left, setting up runners on first and second with two out for Ralph Vasami. The junior catcher singled home Farscht before Travis Putnam flied out to left, ending the inning. "At that point, we were down 1-0 and tied it and we were just setting ourselves up to try to get more than one run," McDowell said of the decision for Johnson to bunt. "Sometimes you get the hits and Vasami had the one with two outs but today was just one of those dreary days where we didn't get the really big hits when we needed them." The Quakers never got into an offensive rhythm yesterday, picking up just six hits. When Columbia comes to Bower Field for two seven-inning games on Saturday, Penn will need to establish itself at the plate early on. "Being comfortable at the plate is so important," Ambrosius said. "[Like today], the Lehigh game had a number of quick innings. You can't have that in seven-inning games. We'll need to get better at-bats, deeper into the count earlier in the game." If the Quakers can force opposing pitchers to throw more pitches early, they will have a distinct advantage in getting into opponents' bullpens -- and that can only help the Quakers during the upcoming Ivy League campaign.