Still holding out hope of turning its season around, the Penn baseball team takes to the road today at 3:30 p.m. to make its shortest trip of the year, to 43rd Street and Powelton Avenue, to face off with the Drexel Dragons. The Quakers (6-22) have lost 12 of their last 13, and with 10 games remaining, stand a single loss away from the dubious distinction of having the most single-season losses in Penn history. "Who knows?" Penn coach Bob Seddon said when asked if his team would bounce back from last weekend's 1-3 Ivy League road trip. "We've got two weeks left and we need a win -- it'll help them mentally and that's what the team needs right now. "We can't just give the game away." The Quakers, who have an important four-game set with Princeton this weekend, are reworking their rotation. Several pitchers who regularly start on the weekend will be summoned to the mound today for what Seddon calls a "tune-up" for Princeton. Likely candidates for three or four innings of work include freshmen Mark Lacerenza (0-4, 5.20 ERA) and Mike Mattern (5-1, 4.03) and junior John Dolan (0-2, 5.06). Mattern and Lacerenza each started one end of the doubleheader at Yale on Saturday, with both throwing at least four innings. Dolan did not make the trip because of soreness in his throwing arm but was re-evaluated at practice yesterday. All three have pitched well for the Quakers in '99 but the Penn staff as a whole has been hurt by numerous defensive miscues that have led to 108 unearned runs -- almost four per outing. On offense, the Quakers have performed well at times, checking in with a .283 team average and nine hits per game. Led by junior Jeff Gregorio at .358, four Penn starters are hitting over .300. Putting these hits together in the same inning, however, is an entirely different matter. "We're sporadic," Seddon said. "We hit well at times, but we don't hit well with men on base. There are games we do, but overall [we don't]." In the '98 matchup with their West Philly rivals, several Quakers were able to hit well with men on base en route to a 7-4 Penn win. Quakers captain Glen Ambrosius recorded a home run and two RBIs, junior Ralph Vasami went 2-for-3 with 2 RBIs and senior Shawn Spiezio added two base hits. "It's contagious in a way," Ambrosius said. "Sometimes the whole lineup hits and sometimes no one does." The Dragons (10-17) come into this contest as winners of five of their last eight and are currently tied for second in the America East Conference. "Drexel played a tough schedule early and they're doing better now -- they beat Delaware twice this weekend," Seddon said. "They have a couple of good hitters in [Jose] Jiminez and their catcher [Matt Neiber]." A squad that features 18 freshman and sophomores, Drexel looks to seniors Neiber, Jiminez and first baseman Lou Marchetti for leadership. Jiminez hit .347 as a junior and went 3-for-6 with three doubles in the Monday twinbill with Delaware. Neiber leads the Dragons with 29 hits but as a whole the team is hitting a meager .240 -- 43 points lower than the Penn average. Marchetti is leading Drexel in two categories, hitting .324 with four home runs. A patient hitter, Marchetti's 22 walks contribute to his impressive on-base-percentage of .495. Using past play as the sole indicator, it looks as though Penn should not necessarily fear these three -- the Drexel seniors went 1-for-12 at the plate against the Quakers in '98. But past results offer no guarantee for success today. Ambrosius has played with both Jiminez and Neiber in summer baseball leagues and knows some things to expect from the crosstown foes. "We always see a good hitting team from them," the senior captain said. "Drexel is by no means a team you walk on the field and automatically pick up a win." If Penn is to pick up a win, however, it will have to put good pitching, fielding and hitting together into one tidy display of baseball. To achieve these ends, Seddon has been changing up his lineup constantly, with the latest switch being a start for freshman Matt Homme at third base today. "At this point, anything is worth a try," Ambrosius said. "We could use a win going into the weekend."
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