After 10 hits and nine runs last weekend against Columbia, senior Steve Glass continued his offensive surge yesterday against Temple in the semifinals of the Liberty Bell Classic.
But unfortunately for the Penn baseball team, Glass' four hits -- including a double and a triple -- weren't enough to propel the team to victory, as the Quakers fell to the Owls, 7-4.
Penn won three of four games against Columbia, but did not have a day to rest before the Temple game, as Sunday's doubleheader was rained out and postponed until Monday.
"We were confident coming off a good weekend," senior Nick Italiano said. "But we came out a little flat, showing the effects of playing a doubleheader on Monday."
The Quakers (11-8, 3-1 Ivy League) started sophomore Remington Chin -- normally a reliever -- on the mound. Dan Finkelstein pitched the last three innings of the game and allowed zero earned runs.
"Chin and Finkelstein didn't pitch badly," Penn coach Bob Seddon said. "The purpose of these midweek games is to pitch new guys."
The Quakers have used eight different pitchers this season and needed to rest their top guns for this weekend's Ivy games against Harvard and Dartmouth, Seddon said.
Temple, by contrast, did not play any games last weekend. The Owls used three of their best pitchers last night, including closer Chris Kurtz. Kurtz had four strikeouts in two innings, en route to his first save of the season.
Still, despite their busier schedule, the Quakers were tied at two after three innings. But the Owls' two home runs in the fourth and fifth innings gave them a comfortable 6-2 lead.
Pete Colon hit a solo home run, while Jason Connor hit a three-run shot.
"The home runs beat us really," Seddon said. "That was the difference in the game."
The Quakers scored a run in the seventh to narrow the gap to 6-3, but the Owls scored again in the eighth.
"The run in bottom of eighth was unearned, and it was a big run," Seddon said. "It would have been 6-4 in the bottom of the eighth, when we had runners in scoring position.
"We had men on first and third, and Italiano hit a rocket right at Temple's first baseman. It would have changed the whole ball game -- we easily would have scored two runs."
Despite the loss, Seddon was pleased with some of his players' performances.
"Glass is hot, he's really on a tear," Seddon said. "If we had a few more guys hot like that, we wouldn't lose any games."
After a slow start to the season, Glass made some adjustments to his swing.
"That's the way baseball goes," Glass said.
"Sometimes, minor changes can make a big difference."
Nate Moffie also had two runs batted in.
Penn faces La Salle tomorrow and has four more Ivy games this weekend.
"This served as a little bit of a wake-up call to us," Glass said. "We can't approach games with a lack of energy and effort -- we have to be ready for each and every game."
