When the Penn men's baseball team took the field yesterday afternoon, it seemed like a perfect day for baseball -- and, more importantly, for Penn Coach Bob Seddon to garner his 600th career victory.
The sun was shining, it was 70 degrees, and the Quakers were riding a six-game winning streak.
But once the game against Lafayette began, everything turned for the worse -- especially the weather. It was 50 degrees when the game was called after four innings.
Lafayette's leadoff hitter, Rob Fioretti, began the game with a leadoff double down the first-base line.
"That was a foul ball by three feet," Seddon said about the call.
Lafayette's offense didn't slow down after that. The Leopards loaded the bases in every inning.
Penn started freshman Joe Wilamowski for two innings and used freshman Brian Cirri in relief for the remainder of the afternoon.
Neither pitcher could quiet the Lafayette bats. The Leopards scored seven runs in just four innings.
Penn's offense could not compensate for its poor pitching and two errors.
Penn's Kasey Adler had an RBI single in the bottom of the first inning. In the second, Coba Canales, ninth in the batting order, crushed an RBI double off the center field wall.
Penn was kept scoreless in the third, as Lafayette's outfielders made two tough catches despite the heavy wind. In the fourth, the Quakers managed to score one more run, as Nate Moffie's bloop single scored Canales.
Lucky for Penn, rain and darkness forced the umpires to call the game after the fourth inning, as the Quakers trailed, 7-3.
"It was a tough decision for the umpires," said Seddon, who has 30 years of umpiring experience in addition to coaching.
Had the game lasted five innings, the stats and game would have become official. But, as such, it's as if the game was never played.
"Obviously, when you have a lead you want to finish the game," Lafayette coach Joe Kinney said. "Every game is important for players to get playing time."
Seddon echoed Kinney's sentiments, adding that even though it was a mid-week game, "every game counts."
Seddon pointed out that there's no way they could have played a full game, and just playing one more inning -- one option that the umpires had considered -- in order to make the game official would likely have been detrimental to Penn.
"You never try just to play five innings," Seddon said. "I told the umpires, 'If I were you, I wouldn't want to open up a can of worms [by continuing play].'"
Seddon noted that the five-inning rule sometimes helps a team, as it did in this case for Penn, but that it could have just as easily worked to the detriment of the Quakers.
"But it all evens out in the wash," Seddon said. "You win some this way and next time it will be the other way around."
Kinney was also disappointed that the game was cancelled because Penn and Lafayette have developed a strong rivalry.
"It's a good matchup every year," Kinney said. "We don't play many teams that are as similar to us in terms of our student-athletes, financial aid and scholarship, and academics.
"This game was far from over."
