Horn's homer gives Baseball first Ivy win

(Penn: 2-2 over weekend)

The last man in the dugout on Saturday was Matt Horn.

Most of the other Penn baseball players had scampered away after five hours of grueling baseball in too-cold-for-April weather, but the freshman catcher stayed behind to pick up his teammates' trash and make the dugout presentable for the next day's twinbill.

Just minutes earlier, Horn smashed a pitch over the left-centerfield fence in the bottom of the ninth inning to give Penn a dramatic, come-from-behind 14-12 win in the second game of a doubleheader with Brown.

"I don't even know what to say," the breathless catcher said after his walk-off home run gave the Quakers their first Ivy League win of the season. "I can't believe it. This is the biggest hit of my life. Holy God."

From the very first pitch, it looked as if the team came up to the plate last would win the game.

The Bears (9-13, 1-1 Ivy League) jumped all over Penn starter Dan Fitzgerald, scoring five in the first and adding another in the second. Fitzgerald's day was over after just an inning and two-thirds.

The Quakers (6-18, 2-6), however, stormed back into the ballgame in the bottom of the second, scoring four runs thanks to key RBI hits from co-captains Jim Mullen and Nick Italiano.

And the slugfest was on. Brown scored one in the fifth, three in the sixth and one in the eighth. Penn scored one in the fifth, one in the sixth and two in the seventh.

Then in the bottom of the eighth inning, Italiano came to the plate with two men on and the Quakers trailing, 11-8. After grounding meekly to second base with the bases loaded in the sixth to end a threat, the second baseman eyed redemption as he again represented the tying run.

This time, Italiano got all of the ball, smacking it over the fence to the deepest part of the ballpark to tie the game.

"It felt good -- I think it was a changeup," Italiano said of the meatball from Brown pitcher Bryant Romo, who also served up Horn's game-winner. "It was good to see the bats come alive."

Penn's bats, however, were conspicuously absent from Saturday's opener.

Quakers ace Andrew McCreery went toe-to-toe with Bears No. 1 Jonathan Stern, but ended up being the tough-luck loser.

McCreery went the distance, striking out eight and giving up just one earned run, but the Quakers could only muster one run and two hits off Stern. Romo closed the door on Penn as the Bears escaped with a hard-fought 2-1 victory.

Coincidentally, the final out of the game was Romo forcing a groundout from Horn, the same pitcher-batter duo that produced the late-inning heroics in the nightcap.

The Red and Blue hoped they could keep that momentum for at least another day. Yale came to Murphy Field yesterday, and two wins against the Elis (6-14, 1-3) would give the Quakers a winning weekend.

They only got one.

"We wanted to come out and get three or four [wins this weekend]," said Penn rightfielder Bryan Graves, who had a monster day at the plate yesterday, going 5 for 6 with five RBI. "But we did win two. We're in a hole right now and we have to find a way to get wins next weekend."

In yesterday's opener, the Quakers responded to an early 4-0 deficit with four runs of their own in the bottom of the second. Penn added three more runs to the scoreboard in the fourth and cruised to an 8-4 victory.

Senior Mike Mattern got his first win of the season after pitching seven strong innings.

In the second game against the Elis, Penn again found themselves trailing early -- after three innings of play, the Quakers were down, 5-0.

This time, however, the Red and Blue could not make up the deficit, falling 10-3 in a rout. Yale freshman Josh Sowers shut down the Penn bats, striking out five and giving up just one earned run to get the win. Penn junior Ben Krantz took the loss, which dropped his record to 0-4.

"You're never satisfied when you win the first game in the doubleheader and then lose the second," Penn coach Bob Seddon said. "Pitching dictates -- [Yale's] freshman had a great game and he had run support. That was the difference in the game."

Still, Seddon was somewhat satisfied that the Quakers were able to get a pair of Ivy wins in a season that started off extremely slow.

"It was good to get the snide off our back," Seddon said. "We're playing better and better. We deserve better."

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