Baseball comes alive vs. La Salle

The Penn baseball team was finally able to put together a complete game yesterday as it dismantled La Salle,

After struggling at home in a 2-1 loss against this same La Salle team a week ago, the Quakers got their revenge in a big way yesterday at La Salle's home park, winning 13-5.

"We should have beaten them last week in our eyes," Penn coach Bob Seddon said. "We played the way we really think we should play against a team we really feel we're a little better than."

The Red and Blue, who have struggled lately at the plate, came out swinging against the Explorers.

Junior Alex Blagojevich, hitting out of the lead-off position, junior first baseman Kasey Adler and junior shortstop Evan Sobel all collected three hits on the afternoon, leading Penn's offensive onslaught.

For Adler, who has been mired in a season-long slump, the three hits are a season high.

"Alex has been in the one spot and he's been playing very well," Seddon said. Adler "has been swinging much better. It started this past weekend and in batting practice he was hitting balls into the net" over the right field fence.

Senior Mike Goldblatt and sophomore Joe Udine also contributed a multi-hit game for the Quakers.

The 13 runs are the most that the Quakers have scored since their season opener against West Virginia Wesleyan, when they tallied 20.

The Red and Blue had been waiting for several weeks to get a game in which they both pitched and hit the ball well. It arrived yesterday.

Junior pitcher Brian Winings had his best outing of the year, as he pitched two innings of shutout baseball.

Following Winings was the trio of sophomore Brian Cirri, junior Dan Finkelstein and freshman Joe Thornton.

Penn's relievers held the Explorers' bats quiet for most of the night. La Salle pushed across five runs over the final three innings, but the Red and Blue had the game well in hand before La Salle scored its first run.

"Winings threw OK, he kept us in the game while it was still close," Seddon said. "But I was really impressed with the relievers. I think they all threw very well and the runs scored off of Finkelstein were on weak hits."

The midweek game allowed Seddon to play a large number of players as the Quakers prepare for their upcoming Ivy League games this weekend.

Despite the 13-run outburst from the Penn bats, problems still remain.

The Red and Blue have been plagued all season by their tendency to leave men stranded, and yesterday that trend continued, as they left 13 men on base.

"We had the bases loaded with just one out in the second inning, when the game was still close and we only scored one run, so that's still a bit of a problem," Seddon said.

The Quakers had cut down the number of men left on base this past weekend, but the problem seemed to reappear again yesterday.

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