Right after the midpoint of the 2003 season, the Penn baseball team sits happily atop the Ivy League's Lou Gehrig Division.
In a pair of weekend doubleheaders against Rolfe Division opponents, the Red and Blue won three of four.
Penn (14-10, 6-2 Ivy) split a pair with defending Ivy champion Harvard. The Crimson opened their Ivy League title defense on the right note, besting Penn in the opener, 11-6. The Quakers salvaged a split in the second, 6-4, thanks to Nate Moffie's late three-run double.
On Sunday, the Red and Blue took two from the Big Green. Penn won 8-1 in the first, as senior Andrew McCreery scattered five hits over seven innings to record his second win of the season. The Quakers edged Dartmouth in the next game, 6-3.
Sophomore Brian Winings pitched a perfect ninth to earn his sixth save of the season, which established a new single-season record in the category.
Following the cancellation of today's scheduled home game against Temple, the Quakers look ahead to a five-game road trip. Penn will play two doubleheaders at Yale and Brown before traveling to city-rival Villanova next Tuesday.
Moffie, who had the game-winning hit against Harvard, has been hitting at a torrid pace. He was .429 (6-for-14) this weekend, lifting his average to .383 -- good for second on the team. His five stolen bases are also a team high.
Winings, whose skills as a closer have thrust him into the Quaker record books, has doubled as coach Bob Seddon's most efficient offensive weapon.
In 36 at-bats, Winings paces the Quakers with a .389 batting average, adding a pair of doubles and a team-high three home runs. Through 10 appearances as a pitcher, he's yet to surrender a single earned run.
Sophomore Josh Appell has been nearly as effective out of the bullpen, pitching 20.2 innings in 10 appearances.
Virtually all of the Quakers, a veteran bunch that has emerged as a the favorites in the Gehrig Division, are living up to lofty expectations. Seniors Steve Glass and Nick Italiano are both batting above .350, while classmate Andrew McCreery has been effective both on the mound and at the plate.
Looming on the horizon is a four-game series with rival Princeton at Murphy Field, during the weekend of April 18-19. Coming on the heels of the Quakers' upcoming road trip, the four games should go a long way toward determining this season's division champion.
The Tigers opened their season this weekend, taking three of four from Brown and Yale. At 3-1, they are within striking distance of the 6-2 Quakers
Penn's Saturday doubleheader against the Elis starts at 11:30 a.m. Sunday's action begins at noon.
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