Baseball hosts Harvard, Dartmouth

Without the services of pitcher Mike Mattern, the Quakers take on two of the bigger-hitting teams in the Ivy League. By Brian Hindo When it rains, it pours. Quite literally, in fact, for the Penn baseball team. After a lackluster effort in a 10-2 loss to Lafayette that brought the squad's losing streak to three and an injury to freshman phenom pitcher Mike Mattern, yesterday's rain forced practice to be cancelled -- just before an important Ivy League weekend which sees doubleheaders against Harvard and Dartmouth. The Quakers (5-13, 2-2 Ivy League) welcome two-time defending Ivy champs Harvard (4-7, 0-0) to Bower Field today for a twinbill set to start at noon. Penn welcomes Dartmouth (2-10, 0-0) for another doubleheader tomorrow at noon. And Mattern, who is 4-0 with a 3.18 earned run average, is one Quaker Penn can ill afford to lose this weekend, with Ivy powerhouse Harvard and big-hitting Dartmouth in town. With Mattern out, Penn coach Bob Seddon and pitching coach Bill Wagner have to change their plans. "The plan was for [Sean] McDonald to start the first game and for Mattern to pitch the second game, with [Matt] Hepler and [Mark] Lacerenza pitching [tomorrow] against Dartmouth," Seddon said. "However, if Mattern cannot pitch, [John] Dolan is going to have to move into a starting berth, and most likely that would be on Saturday, and one of the Saturday pitchers would have to be moved to [today]." Harvard arrives in Philadelphia fresh off a trip to Florida. The Crimson lost to national No. 21 Florida International by a 6-2 score on Wednesday. The Quakers will most likely catch Harvard senior Garrett Vail, whom Seddon calls the Crimson's best pitcher. Vail has beaten the Quakers the last two years in a row. Also available for the Crimson in its seven-deep rotation are seniors Quinn Schafer, Andrew Duffell and junior Mike Madden, who picked up his first win of the year last week in a 10-6 win over Oklahoma State. The Quakers pitching staff, after a busy week of games, has its collective hands full with Harvard's lineup -- keyed by captain and third baseman Hal Carey. Carey, a four-year starter at third, hit .529 in last year's NCAA Tournament to earn a spot on the All-Tournament team. Second baseman Peter Woodfork leads the Crimson with 15 runs batted in and 18 hits, and is flirting with a .400 batting average. "We have to play inspired, solid baseball -- and if we do, we can win," Seddon said. "We have the ability to do that, but this is a tough club." After Harvard, the Quakers host Dartmouth, which finished tied for last-place in the Red Rolfe Division with Brown last year. But the Big Green lost much of their pitching staff to graduation -- including dominant closer Dan Godfrey. "[Dartmouth] is a veteran team, but so far not a good team," Seddon said. "They haven't had much pitching." But they certainly have been swinging the bat as of late. The Big Green scored 18 runs on 20 hits against Babson for only their second victory of the season, and around the horn they are consistently solid. "They have probably the best infield in the Ivy League," Seddon said. All-Ivy selection Michael Conway starts at third base, and junior co-captain Brian Nickerson starts at shortstop. Nickerson missed last year with a knee injury, but the year before was named Ivy League Rookie of the Year. This year, he is hitting .340 with eight RBIs. At second is sophomore Joe Rockers, who filled in last year at short for Nickerson. And Dartmouth first baseman Aaron Meyer leads the team with a .423 average, six home runs and nineteen RBI in just 12 games. The 6'5" junior is slugging a robust .827. Instead of outdoor practice yesterday, Seddon called a team meeting at which he talked to the players about "their inspiration level." But he said he was confident his team would rebound from its current three-game losing streak. "Weekend games are totally different from mid-week games," Seddon said. "Pay no attention to mid-week games as far as the energy level." Increased energy is a must for the Quakers if they hope to hang with Harvard and muffle Dartmouth's bats. "I think they'll play hard," Seddon said. "If hard isn't good enough, we'll find that out."