Baseball looks to shut down Engineers

After facing tough pitching in four Ivy losses at Princeton, the Quakers will face tough hitters at Lehigh today. Today, the Penn men's baseball team faces the country's most dangerous hitter. That's right, this afternoon, in Bethlehem, Pa., three Penn pitchers are slated to try and sling their fastballs past Lehigh junior first baseman Pat Hollander, who currently leads all NCAA hitters with a .505 batting average. With only five games left on the Engineers' schedule, the left-handed hitter is a virtual lock to break both Lehigh's and the Patriot League's single-season hitting records, which are .488 and .448, respectively. Not exactly a power hitter -- just five home runs on the season -- Hollander isn't quite as imposing as his monstrous batting average. Even though he does lead the Engineers (15-20) in nearly every offensive category other than home runs -- 37 RBI, 81 total bases, a .757 slugging percentage and a .566 on-base percentage -- Hollander is not the only Lehigh player the Quakers (18-18) should worry about. "He's good, but they also have pretty decent pitchers and four or five guys hitting over .300," sophomore pitcher Mike Mattern said. Lehigh actually has six players other than Hollander who are better-than-.300 hitters. One of those players, sophomore center fielder Jeff Pietrak, was a teammate of Mattern's at La Salle High School in Philadelphia. "[Pietrak]'s a real good defensive outfielder," Mattern said. "He's got speed, and a little power. He gets a lot of extra-base hits." With seven doubles, five triples and four homers, Pietrak's numbers bear that out. Pietrak's .569 slugging percentage is second-highest on the team, besides, of course, Hollander's .757. In fact, Pietrak is among Lehigh's leaders in several important offensive categories. He's second in RBI, total bases, and doubles, third in hits, and fourth in walks and on-base percentage. The Quakers will certainly have their work cut out for them if they want to wash the weekend's bad taste out of their mouths. The Quakers dropped four games at Princeton on Sunday and Monday, erasing any shot they had at the Gehrig division lead. The Quakers are now in third place in the four-team sourthern division of the Ivy League, behind Princeton and second-place Cornell. The Red and Blue can stay out of the Gehrig basement if they can beat Columbia this weekend in a home-and-home series of doubleheaders. That's why it's imperative for the Quakers to make a good showing today, so they can reset for their final weekend of the season. "It's real important [to win tomorrow]," Mattern said. "It would be nice to get a win, to bounce back and go into the last weekend of the season on a winning note." Because the Quakers want to have fresh arms this weekend in New York, they will probably have several different pitchers pitch a few innings apiece, as they have done in most midweek games this season. "[Penn coach Bob Seddon]'s trying to pitch by committee and save some arms for the weekend," sophomore pitcher Mark Lacerenza said. That committee will probably consist of some combination of junior Matt Hepler, sophomore Dan Fitzgerald, and freshman Ben Krantz. Hepler (0-0) -- who has struggled this year and has the Quakers' highest ERA with 12.12 -- will try to get back on track against the Engineers' heavy hitters. Despite his inflated ERA, Hepler has kept opposing hitters below .300. Also, the righty has kept 'em in the park this year, allowing just one home run in 16 1/3 of work. Fitzgerald (1-2), has done an even better job of keeping the opponent's high-flying hitters grounded, allowing no homers in 14 and two-thirds innings. Krantz, the newcomer, has the best record (2-1) and ERA (5.19) of the three. Krantz has worked 17 1/3 innings and given up just one tater, mostly in relief work for the Red and Blue.

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