Quakers slide safely in pair of doubleheaders

If there is one word that is absent from the Penn baseball team's vocabulary, that word is blowout.

In all four Penn wins, fans were treated to a series of exciting endings, from a game-winning home run to a play at the plate.

"Every game this year has been entertaining," Penn head coach Bob Seddon said. "From day one we've had unbelievable endings."

Saturday saw Penn travel to West Chester for a doubleheader.

After jumping out to a quick four run lead in the first inning, the Quakers allowed the Golden Rams to score a quartet of runs of their own in the fourth inning.

With the game knotted at four apiece at the top of the sixth inning, up stepped Penn's Brian Winings. The sophomore clobbered a home run over the left field fence, giving his team a one-run advantage.

And Winings wasn't ready to give away his hard-earned run.

So he took the mound in the seventh inning -- forcing the first batter to line out to left field and then strike out the next two Golden Rams to secure the victory and notch his third save of the season.

The second game of the day saw the Quakers, once again, jump out to a first inning lead, scoring three runs off of four hits -- with RBI courtesy of Andrew McCreery (2) and Kasey Adler.

Leading 8-1 entering the bottom of the last inning, the game seemed to be a done deal.

But somebody forgot to tell West Chester. The Golden Rams tallied five runs in their final frame off six hits and and an error, but it wasn't enough. The Quakers emerged victorious, 8-6.

In game one against Hartford yesterday, the Quakers led, 7-3, entering the sixth inning. Once again, they gave up their early lead.

Penn pitcher McCreery surrendered a two-out rally of four consecutive doubles at the top of the sixth which drove in four runs -- tying the score at seven apiece.

After a scoreless bottom of the sixth for the Quakers, Appell returned to the mound, striking out two of the next three batters en route to a 1-2-3 inning.

The Quakers needed just one run in their final at-bat to win their third game of the weekend.

With freshman Coba Canales on first after a leadoff walk sophomore Nate Moffie came to the plate and delivered a line-drive single to right field.

Canales sped around third as Hawks rightfielder Steve Moyer picked up the ball, delivering a perfect throw to his catcher.

Charging toward home, Conales slid to the left of Hartford catcher Kyle O'Neill, reaching for the plate with his outstretched right hand.

Appearing from a cloud of dust came the umpire, signaling safe. The Quakers had won, 8-7.

"It was an unbelievable slide," Seddon said. "But I also have to give credit to the rightfielder. He delivered a bullet."

Penn's final game of the weekend featured a near-perfect pitching performance by pitcher Billy Kirk.

Just two outs away from a no-hitter, leading, 7-0, Kirk faced Hartford leftfielder Josh Topp.

Living up to his last name, the catcher topped a pitch by Kirk. The ball looked to have hit off Topp's left foot, slowly rolling down the third base line -- an apparent foul ball.

But no call was made.Topp safely reached first base and Kirk was dealt his first hit of the game.

"It was a foul ball, plain and simple," Seddon said.

Kirk looked to have been shaken by this non-call as he allowed three of the next four batters to reach base safely, allowing the Hawks to pull closer, 7-3.

Just one out away from a win, Kirk faced Hartford's Matt Denorfia with the bases loaded.

Denorfia jumped on a fast ball and drove it towards the right field wall.

"I thought it was going to leave the park," Seddon said.

But it didn't. Penn rightfielder Jon Slaughter made a diving catch at the wall, completing the weekend sweep for the Quakers.

"Any time you can win four games on a weekend, it's big," Seddon said. "They are a wonderful team to coach."

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