After completing his 33rd year as the head coach of the Penn baseball team, Bob Seddon has announced that he will retire after the 2005 season.
"I have enjoyed all my years at Penn," Seddon said in a press release. "Being in this type of academic community and having the opportunity to work with a wonderful group of young men every year has kept me going this long."
In the final weekend of his penultimate season, Seddon's baseball squad responded after getting swept in embarrassing fashion Saturday by archrival Princeton to win the final two games of the season.
The Quakers (10-27, 5-15 Ivy) improbably came to life at rainy Clarke Field, defeating the Tigers, 8-3 and 9-7.
Junior Matt Horn went 4-for-4 and junior Evan Sobel drove in three runs to lead the charge in game one. Sophomore Josiah Brand led the Red and Blue with four RBIs as the Quakers escaped game two.
"This will energize a lot of people into training hard for next year," Sobel said. "People were down because we were losing so many games."
Going into the offseason on a positive note was a must for a Penn squad that had lost five straight and 11-of-12 heading into the weekend.
The team's misery continued in the first two games against the Tigers (21-16, 9-7). The Quakers held an 11-8 lead going into the bottom of the sixth inning behind home runs from seniors Jon Slaughter and Mike Goldblatt, who also homered in the second game.
But then the roof caved in, as the Tigers batted through the order twice in the bottom of the sixth, scoring 13 runs on seven hits en route to a 21-11 win.
When Princeton delivered a 14-1 drubbing in the second game, it appeared that the Quakers would end the season with a whimper.
But with the help of junior Brian Winings, who got his second win of the season pitching five-inning, three-run ball, the Red and Blue rode to a relatively easy victory.
The key for the Quakers' offense in both games was its ability to score first. After scoring five runs in the first three innings of game one, Brand drove in three runs in the first two innings as Penn charged to an 8-0 lead.
But the Quakers staved off a furious Princeton rally in the final innings. The game was not assured until junior Bill Kirk got the final out of the season, recording a save with 1 1/3 innings of relief.
The sweep was extra special for the Penn seniors.
"I'm not a big fan of Princeton," Goldblatt said. "We had never beaten them more than once in a series in my four years."
The Penn co-captain added, however, that the two victories did not lessen the sting of a tough season. The Red and Blue have a lot of work to do if they plan to improve on this season's 5-15 record in league play.
"All the position players are back except for me and the entire pitching staff is back," Goldblatt said. Sunday "showed how we could have played. I'm optimistic that the team will be better next year, but then again we couldn't play much worse."
The team will return a solid core of position players, led by juniors Sobel, Nate Moffie and Bryan Graves. Sobel was the team's most pleasant surprise, stepping into the starting shortstop role. He batted .302 and played mostly solid defense.
