Baseball wins in ninth, again

(Penn - 10, Villanova - 9)

The Penn baseball team is nothing if not exciting.

"Don't go home when we're playing," Penn coach Bob Seddon said after the Quakers scored six runs in the bottom of the ninth inning to beat the Villanova (21-15), 10-9, yesterday.

Trailing 9-4, the Quakers (10-21) sent their two captains -- senior designated hitter Jim Mullen and junior second baseman Nick Italiano -- to the plate to begin the ninth. Each had homered earlier in the game, and each would need to reach base to give the Quakers any sort of chance.

Mullen singled to center field, and Italiano followed with a gorgeous bunt down the third-base line, which he turned into a single.

Sophomore Bryan Graves' double scored Mullen, making the score 9-5 with one out and men on second and third. That was enough to convince Villanova coach to give reliever Michael Grodecki the hook in favor of closer James Russell, a hard-throwing righty who'd blown just one save in 11 opportunities this season.

With those impressive statistics, Russell promptly gave up a single, a walk and a single, which meant that the score was 9-8, and there were runners on first and second by the time Russell struck out Quakers catcher Billy Collins.

The Quakers' last hope, then, was junior shortstop and leadoff man, Steve Glass. After Russell's wild pitch moved the runners to second and third, the stage was set for Glass to be the hero.

After working the count to 2-2, Glass swung at Russell's next offering and chopped the ball directly into the ground in front of home plate. The ball squirted out toward the pitcher, who picked it up and threw to first --over first baseman Rob Cafiero's head. Quakers' outfielder Alex Blagojevich came home from third with the tying run. Cafiero chased down the ball and heaved it back to the catcher, but too late to tag out Nate Moffie before he scored the winning run.

Hey, whatever works.

"I wasn't in the best state of mind [after chopping the ball]," Glass said. "I just tried to get down the line as fast as I could. We'll take the win, though."

This is the fourth come-from-behind win the Quakers have taken in their final half-inning in the last 11 days. It all started when freshman catcher Matt Horn homered in the bottom of the ninth to get the Quakers their first Ivy League win, 14-12 over Brown.

Then, last Thursday against La Salle, Billy Collins' two-run homer in the top of the ninth sparked a four-run rally, which led to the Quakers 13-11 win.

And last Friday, the Quakers came back from six runs down in the bottom of the ninth to beat the Harvard Crimson, 19-11, in 11 innings.

"As long as we get the 'W' at the end, we'll take 'em all like this," Italiano said. "[Yesterday's game] felt just like the Harvard game, we were able to bunch a couple of hits together and get it done."

Italiano hit his sixth homer of the season, which also happened to be the sixth homer of his collegiate career.

For his first two years at Penn, Italiano was the Quakers' leadoff man. He got on, stole bases and scored runs. Like a true leadoff man, he didn't homer.

Early this year, Seddon was looking for a little more run production, and figured that, if Italiano got on base with guys in front of him, the Quakers would score more runs. Since late March, Italiano has been hitting in the third slot. And, like a true run producer, he's been going yard.

"I like [hitting third] a lot," Italiano said. "All my life I've been a leadoff hitter, and now I get the chance to drive some runs in."

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