The Penn baseball team was not in top form Wednesday when it suffered a 17-3 blowout to Lafayette. The Quakers did not look like a team prepared to begin the Ivy League season this weekend against Columbia.
But Penn coach Bob Seddon insists that the loss was not at all indicative of the Quakers' capabilities.
"Wednesday won't affect the weekend at all," he said. "No weekday games ever affect the weekend. It's a whole different atmosphere."
Prior to the Lafayette game, the Quakers (4-8) had not played since March 14; their previous five games had been canceled.
Because of the time off, Seddon was not too concerned with the loss to the Leopards
"We played like a team that had not played in 10 days," Seddon said. "The loss was not an indicator of our team at all."
Seddon also noted that Penn had very little time to warm up before the Lafayette game, and this may have contributed to the team's lackluster performance.
A solid workout yesterday reassured Seddon that the Quakers would come to play this weekend against the Lions.
"We had a great practice today," he said. "We had an intersquad game, lots of infield-outfield and the team looked good."
Last season, Penn also opened its season against Columbia, losing the first game but winning the remaining three games by a combined 31 runs.
The Lions (2-11) lost one of their top prospects from last season -- then-freshman Mike Baxter -- who transferred to Vanderbilt. The first baseman earned second-team All-Ivy honors last season.
Despite losing Baxter and their first 10 games of the season, Columbia is not a team Penn can afford to overlook. After losing their first 10 games, the Lions won their next two, including a 6-4 victory over Miami of Ohio.
"Columbia is not hitting too well at this point," Seddon said. "But they got two good wins over Miami of Ohio and Army."
Penn and Columbia are the only two Ivy League teams playing this weekend.
"We need to get off to a good start, because nobody else is playing," Seddon said.
Seddon noted that there might be changes in Penn's lineup depending on various players' performances this weekend.
According to Seddon, the Quakers will face Columbia's top pitcher Brian Doveala tomorrow.
The 6-foot-5 senior -- who earned first-team All-Ivy honors last season -- is 1-1 with a 5.95 Earned Run Average.
Penn will start junior right hander Remington Chin against Doveala.
Chin (0-1) has a 3.75 ERA, which ranks third in the Quakers' rotation.
But Seddon noted that no matter who starts each game, "no one will go nine innings, so we'll need a lot of guys to come in and pitch."
Penn's pitchers will have their hands full when facing Fernando Perez -- Columbia's best hitter - who is batting a team-high .333 with one home run.
Indeed, even with the loss of Baxter, Columbia presents a potential roadblock in the Quakers' drive for the Ivy League title.
