Baseball to open play at new field

The Penn baseball team will host St. Joe's at Murphy Field today. Despite the familiar drone of cars emanating from the Schuylkill Expressway, the Penn baseball team will feel strangely like a visitor in its own backyard today when it hosts St. Joseph's in the Quakers' home opener. Instead of returning to the friendly confines of Bower Field to kick off the home season, where they have hosted teams for the past 20 years, the Red and Blue (5-5) will christen the newly built stadium at Murphy Field at 3:00 p.m. when they take on the Hawks (5-14). Because they haven't even had a chance to practice in the multi-million-dollar facility before this afternoon's opening pitch, the Quakers are just as unsure about the quirks of their own field as they are about the parks they encounter on the road. "I have no idea how this field's going to be," Penn outfielder and leadoff hitter Kevin McCabe said. "Sometimes you know what the infield's going to be like -- if it's going to be slow, if it's going to be a good field to bunt on or something like that. This will almost be like an away game for us." After spending the entire spring break in central Florida, where Penn split its 10 games while feeling out its new roster, the team is relieved to be back home to play. The Quakers, however, know that they will have to adjust their style of play to compensate for the slower infields found here in the damp Northeast, as opposed to the dry, fast fields they played on in the Sunshine State. "The difference in the way the ball comes up is a totally different game," Penn coach Bob Seddon said. "In Florida? every ball that went through the infield was like a rocket. It won't be that way here. It's a whole different game, and our infielders will have to be aware of that." One of the major changes Penn's fielders will have to make today is in their movement toward ground balls hit into the slow infield grass. "[We] have to be aggressive in getting to the ball," McCabe said. "In Florida, a lot of times you can afford to sit back a little bit because the ball is a lot of times coming so fast. On this field, you've got to be a little more aggressive in coming to the ball and just staying in front of it." The Quakers pitchers, including probable starter Greg Lee, will also have to come out aggressively against the solid St. Joe's batting order. The Hawks have managed to uphold a team batting average of .286 while facing several top NCAA contenders -- including Florida State and Stetson -- in the preseason, and will surely try to rattle the Quakers' younger pitching staff while at the plate this afternoon. But Penn won't need to worry if Lee, a sophomore transfer from William and Mary who is slated to throw the first pitch in the Quakers' new park while Penn ace Mike Mattern battles the flu, continues to pitch like he did in Florida. In his first collegiate start against Northern Illinois in Daytona midway through the spring break trip, Lee struck out 12 batters in an eight-inning night that helped give the Quakers an 8-4 win. Lee's dominant showing in that game, as well as daily in practice, has made many of his teammates confident in the new addition to the Penn rotation. "You just can't give guys free passes -- you've got to make them hit the ball," McCabe said. "[Lee] goes right after hitters, and that's what you need to do. I think he'll have a real good outing [today]." Of course, the Quakers will also have to contribute offensively if they hope to beat the Hawks -- but lately, that hasn't been a problem for the Red and Blue. Penn has an impressive .324 batting average on the season and has sent seven balls over the fence in 10 games. "It'll take a pretty good pitcher to stop our bats," Seddon said. "We will hit the ball. All the way down the lineup we can hit." And the Quakers are anxious to finally get out and hit on their new field after spending the last couple of practice days under shelter due to rain. "Everybody's kind of itching to get back outside," McCabe said. "When you play 10 straight days in Florida and you have to come back inside, it sucks. I mean, it's not baseball."

Please note All comments are eligible for publication in The Daily Pennsylvanian.