For six out of the eight Ivy League baseball teams, this weekend marks the beginning of their Ancient Eight season. Each of those six teams is undefeated in league play and has an equal chance at winning the Ivy League title.
But the Penn baseball team already finds itself in a hole after losing three out of four games last weekend to Columbia. Penn and Columbia were the only two teams to play last weekend.
Indeed, the Quakers (5-13, 1-3 Ivy) need to play well this weekend in order to compensate for last weekend's woes.
"This weekend is very pivotal for us," Penn coach Bob Seddon said. "At this point, you have to have a good weekend, or otherwise you throw out your season."
Penn will play two doubleheaders at Murphy Field this weekend; it hosts Yale (5-10) on Saturday and Brown (3-10) on Sunday.
While midweek games are relatively trivial during the Ivy League season, Penn's two losses this week -- to Philadelphia rivals La Salle and Saint Joseph's -- were not particularly promising.
"League games are totally different from midweek games," Seddon said. "Midweek games have no effect on the weekend games."
The good news is that while the midweek losses had no effect on Penn's Ivy League record, they did provide the Quakers with frustration that they channeled into motivation to work harder this week in practice.
"They weren't very happy after the two losses," Seddon said. "We could have won those two games.
"They're frustrated."
Penn's two losses this week came by a combined three runs. The Quakers struggled offensively, scoring only three runs against their two opponents combined.
What's worse is that Penn is not capitalizing on the few opportunities it does have. The Quakers have left 45 runners on base in the last five games.
"We're not getting hits when they count," Seddon said.
After Penn's pitchers struggled against Columbia -- allowing 39 runs in the three losses -- they rebounded against La Salle and Saint Joseph's, allowing just six runs in the two games.
"All of our pitchers threw good innings" against St. Joe's, Seddon said.
But unfortunately, when the Quakers' pitchers have performed well, their bats have been silent.
"You need hitting, pitching and defense," Seddon said. "If you don't have two out of the three, you're not going to win.
"And we haven't been able to do that."
Penn will start junior Josh Appell on the mound in the first game against Yale, and pitch junior Bill Kirk in the second game. Against Brown, the Quakers will start juniors Brian Winings and Remington Chin. In relief, Penn will use sophomore Brian Cirri first off the bench.
One of the Quakers' top freshman pitchers, Joe Thornton, will not be providing relief this weekend, as he has tendonitis in his right throwing arm.
"He threw this week one inning and we had to take him out," Seddon said.
As for Yale and Brown, "they've both been struggling, but they've been playing good teams," Seddon said.
Seddon added, "Yale may be a little short on pitching," after losing Mike Elias this season because of arm surgery. Last season, Elias pitched a complete game with three strikeouts to defeat the Quakers.
