Baseball whiffs on shot at Gehrig lead

Penn fell to three games back in the division, losing both games yesterday at Princeton. The Penn baseball team's Lou Gehrig Division title hopes -- not to mention its Ivy League title hopes -- took a severe blow yesterday afternoon when the Quakers dropped both games of a critical doubleheader to division-leading Princeton. The two losses dropped the Quakers (18-16, 7-7 Ivy) three games behind the Tigers (17-14, 10-4) in the Gehrig standings with six Ivy games to go. Penn, which had hopes of taking at least three out of four at Old Nassau before the weekend began, must now win both games of today's noon doubleheader at Princeton's Clarke Field to have any realistic shot for a pennant this season. "It puts us in a situation where we need to win two games [today]," Penn coach Bob Seddon said. "What we need to do is to be in a position to still be alive in the final weekend." To have any shot at tying the Tigers and forcing a playoff, the Quakers would have to win both games at Princeton today and then sweep their two doubleheaders with Columbia this weekend. Cornell would also have to beat Princeton once. Should the Quakers and Tigers split today, Princeton would be three games up on Penn with four to play -- a virtually impossible deficit to overcome. If Princeton sweeps the double-dip from Penn today, it would clinch the Lou Gehrig Division title, and the Quakers would be eliminated. And with Princeton ace Chris Young -- arguably the Ivy League's most dominating pitcher -- on the mound in the first game today, things are looking bleak for Penn. "It won't be easy," Seddon said. "If we play good baseball, we can beat him?. We've got our hands full. We got beat twice [yesterday]. So it really doesn't matter who's pitching, we've got to play a little bit better." Young is 2-0 with a 0.90 ERA in four pitching appearances this season. He has 26 strikeouts in 20 innings of work and has only allowed eight hits. To have any chance against Young, the Quakers will have to avoid the strikeout. In yesterday's two games, Princeton pitchers struck out 19 Quakers batsmen. "[It was] the biggest negative from our end," Seddon said. Princeton pitcher Jason Quintana punched the most Quakers out of the box yesterday -- nine, in his eight innings of work in the second game. In that second game, the Tigers took an early 4-1 lead off of an ineffective Ben Otero, who took the loss. Princeton's second run of the game was indicative of the way the afternoon went for Otero. The freshman hurler, who had put together a string of solid starts heading into the contest, got two quick outs in the bottom of the third with the game tied at one. But one of his pitches plunked Princeton first baseman Andrew Hanson, who then advanced to second on catcher Jeff Gregorio's passed ball. Hanson then scored on right fielder Max Krance's single to center. "He got hit," Seddon said of Otero, who gave up nine runs and was lifted in the fifth. "One of the problems was he got behind in the count early in the game, and when you're behind, it's kind of tough, because you've got to come in with a pitch that maybe you don't want to, and the location isn't right. He got hit hard." Quintana, on the other hand, settled down after allowing the Quakers to tie the score at four in the fifth. After his teammates gave him a five-run cushion in the bottom of the frame, Quintana shut the door, giving up only one Penn run before being lifted. Chris Higgins pitched a scoreless ninth to give the Tigers the 12-5 victory. "[They were] not overwhelming," Seddon said of Princeton's starters. "We didn't pitch well today; and we didn't make a couple of plays; and they hit the ball." Princeton hit the ball a lot less in the first game yesterday, but it was still good enough to beat starter Mike Mattern, 5-4. Mattern, who was looking to continue the recent success he had been experiencing, was not able to hold the early 3-0 lead that the Quakers had given him. After Princeton had clawed back to within 3-2 in the bottom of the third, Penn rightfielder Chris May hit a solo home run to left. But Mattern, who fell to 2-3, allowed the Tigers to tie the game in the bottom of the frame after second baseman Jay Mitchell drove in left fielder Ryan Achterberg with an RBI single to right-center. Achterberg then scored on designated hitter Jon Watterston's fielder's choice. Princeton took the lead for good in its next turn at bat, as third baseman Eric Voelker's sacrifice fly drove in Hanson from third base. Freshman Ryan Quillian, on the mound for the Tigers, shut out the Quakers after May's home run, going six innings and striking out eight before handing the ball to David Boehle in the seventh to seal the win. "[Quillian] tightened up when he had to," Seddon said. "He pitched alright." Young will pitch the first game for the Tigers today, and Tom Rowland will get the nod in the nightcap. For the Quakers, Mark Lacerenza, who has had several tough outings this season, will get the ball in game one, and freshman Andrew McCreery will start in the second game. The two doubleheaders were originally scheduled to be played at Old Nassau on Friday and Saturday, but inclement weather pushed the games to yesterday and today.