Baseball survives St. Pete's in last at bat

On an overcast, unseasonably cool day at Murphy Field, the Penn baseball team outlasted St. Peter's, 13-12, in a back-and-forth midweek duel that lasted nearly three-and-a-half hours. It may not have been pretty, but the Quakers (19-11) demonstrated resolve by rallying in the bottom of the ninth inning to sink the Peacocks (2-24). "What can you say about this game?" Penn coach Bob Seddon said. "A team that's a winning team will find a way to pull that out, and we've been a winning team this year." Penn sophomore shortstop Steve Glass drove in the winning run for the Quakers. With the score knotted at 12 and the bases loaded with one out in the bottom of the ninth, the Quakers' No. 9 hitter stepped into the box. He'd had a banner day at the plate up to that point, stroking a pair of RBI singles and lining out hard to the first baseman. He knew that he just needed to line the ball into the outfield to bring home the runner at third. "I was just sitting on the fastball, looking to put the ball in the air," Glass said. St. Peter's pitcher Derick Talty obliged, serving up a fastball that Glass sent deep into left-center, over a Peacocks outfield that was cheating in. The ball landed safely, and Penn catcher Jeff Gregorio raced home for the victory. The 25-run game saw 34 hits, including a season-high 20 off the bats of the Quakers. All 13 of Penn's runs were scored individually; no more than two come across on any one play. Seven Red and Blue batters had multiple-hit days off Peacocks pitching. Glass had four, while both Chris May and Nick Italiano had three for Penn. The offensive star for the Peacocks was third baseman Michael Quevedo. The sophomore from Staten Island hit a two-run home run off of Matt Winn in the seventh to bring his team within a run before belting a two-RBI triple off Penn closer Nick Barnhorst in the ninth to give his team the temporary 12-11 lead. "We didn't want to see that third baseman again," Seddon said of his mood while watching the ninth. Barnhorst, who pitched the eighth and the ninth, failed to notch his seventh save but was credited with the win to make his record 1-0 on the year. Yesterday's contest was wild from the start. The first pitch was delayed as the umpiring crew that was scheduled to do the game never showed. Luckily, Bill Haines, a college ump who was watching from the stands only because the game he was scheduled to officiate in Delaware was postponed, filled in for the missing crew of two all by himself. St. Peter's head coach Dan Olear didn't exactly appreciate Haines' fill-in job. In the top of the eighth, St. Peter's first batter made slight contact with a Barnhorst pitch. The ball, which looked like it might have been fouled off the plate or the batter's foot, didn't make it to the infield grass. Haines called it fair, and catcher Billy Collins threw to first base for the force out. This caused Olear to erupt. He came charging out of his dugout and stopped with his face mere inches from Haines. Although he didn't go the Earl Weaver route of turning his cap backwards, he did about everything else, pointing his finger and covering home plate with dirt. Haines justifiably threw Olear out, but that didn't prevent the second-year had man from complaining from the top of the stands at the Murph.

News and Notes Olear is the first coach to ever be ejected from Murphy Field... May's three hits give him 49 on the season and an even 100 for his career. His two RBI leave him just five short of Tom Olszak's all-time Penn record... It looked like Penn third baseman Oliver Hahl was hit in the hand with a pitch in the fifth inning. Haines ruled the pitch also hit his bat. After getting his hand taped up, the junior resumed his at-bat, hit a single and eventually scored. Seddon called his condition "day-to-day."

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