Baseball's new stadium is a hit

Fans enjoyed free peanuts and Cracker Jack, and the field was in good shape. With the gigantic, smiling face of Will Smith looking down upon it on a warm, sunny spring afternoon, how could anything have gone wrong at the first game played at the Penn Baseball Stadium at Murphy Field? As it turned out, nothing went wrong for the Penn baseball team, as it made its Murphy Field debut a memorable one with a Smith-adorned billboard for a local radio station looking on. The Quakers overcame a five-run deficit in their last at-bat to beat St. Joseph's, 13-12. The glistening new ballpark's debut was just as successful. While the 263 Quakers supporters who attended the game were chomping on free peanuts and Cracker Jack provided by the Penn Athletic Department, the newness of the field they were watching caused few problems. For instance, the brand new turf on the infield grass kept ground balls down for the most part -- much to the delight of the infielders on both sides. The excellent condition of the field was due to the work of Penn head groundskeeper Tony Overend and his crew, who arrived at the field at 7:30 yesterday morning to iron out any last wrinkles before the 3 p.m. game. "The guys worked pretty hard, the crew I have," Overend said. "It all came together, it was a good job. And we got the 'W.' That makes it a little bit more sweeter." But rarely does any new turf lack irregularities. This became painfully apparent to the Quakers during the Hawks' five-run fifth inning that gave them a 9-4 lead over the Quakers. A ground ball smashed to Penn third baseman Oliver Hahl took a bad hop on the new infield grass and bounced over his outstretched glove as he was diving to his right. Hahl felt that it was probably the rough new turf that caused the ball to skip into left field, allowing one run to score. "[It] sucked," Hahl said. "I was pissed about it." One thing about which the Quakers weren't upset was the early verdict on the relatively small Murphy Field -- it seems to be a hitter's ballpark. The game's first homerun was a fourth inning monster shot to dead center field off the bat of St. Joe's first baseman Tim Gunn, who had not hit a home run all season. Penn's $2-million launching pad eventually paid dividends, as the first Quakers homerun at Murphy Field -- a three-run shot by Anthony Napolitano -- was a crucial step in their six-run eighth inning comeback. "As you can see, there were balls flying out of here like crazy," Penn right fielder Kevin McCabe said. "We took advantage of the last one. But our pitchers are going to have to keep the ball down." While Murphy Field has the potential to reward hitters, it also has the potential to distract them. Cars buzz along the Schuylkill Expressway, which towers above the outfield. In the late afternoon, while home plate is still in sunlight, the pitcher's mound is shrouded in the shadow cast by the huge water cooling plant that looms over the field on the first base line. "I really didn't think it was that bad. You know, Bower [Field] had the trains and the cars, so it's something that we're used to," McCabe said, referring to the Quakers' previous home. "The sun didn't seem too bad. There were shadows in the middle of the field, but you could see the ball fine coming out of the pitcher's hand." Penn coach Bob Seddon, however, thinks that the expressway beyond the outfield might pose a problem for some players. "A couple of the hitters said that the backdrop is not quite high enough," he said. "When a [pitcher's] arm is up, you see a car behind the arm." The hitters aren't the only ones who might be distracted. Penn shortstop Glen Ambrosius said that the stands and the nets that protect the spectators can make fielding tricky. "There were a few times where the guy flied it back, and I thought it was a fly ball coming out into play. It's really tough on the fly balls," he said. "I actually felt they should have named the field Will Smith Field at Q102 Stadium. We need to get a Penn baseball sign up there or something like that," said McCabe, who faces the sign while playing right field. "I was joking around with the guys, saying, 'If you ever lose focus, look at the smiling Will Smith and you can't be upset.' But obviously, you can't have everything be perfect with the field. "I like Will Smith," he added. Yesterday, Will Smith wasn't the only one who was liked. Everybody praised the success of Murphy Field and of those who put it together. St. Joe's was disappointed when the game was called after the eighth on account of darkness. Murphy Field is still without lights. "What they've done here for us is wonderful," Seddon said. "The operations staff and the athletic staff, what they've done for us here is unbelievable. Everybody worked day and night to get the field ready to go. That's a first class operation."

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