Penn second baseman Andrew Bechta stepped up to the plate in the bottom of the fifth inning and drove the first pitch he saw up and over the left field wall for his first homer of the season -- and of his career.
The solo shot fittingly came during the Quakers' (9-18 overall, 5-7 Ivy) first real blowout of the year, as they demolished Saint Joseph's, 14-3, to end a seven-game slide.
Bechta went 3-for-3 with three RBIs on the day and led the hit parade for the Red and Blue, who picked up a season high 19 hits against the Hawks.
"Everybody hit the ball," Coach Bob Seddon said. "And the ball was carrying even though it wasn't windy."
Bechta's dinger was one of the Quakers' three on the day. First baseman Sean Abate and catcher Matt Horn connected for the other two.
Penn probably did not even need the extra support, however, as the long balls all came after the team's seven-run fourth inning.
It was the biggest inning the Quakers have had all year and was a real turning point in the game.
They went into the inning down 2-0, but Nate Moffie got things rolling with a single. After a Bryan Graves double and a sacrifice fly by Abate, Moffie crossed the plate to get the Quakers on the board.
Once they got started, the runs just didn't stop. Bechta ripped a long double to drive in Evan Sobel and Horn, who both singled.
Bechta then scored a run himself off of a single by Alex Blagojevich.
All of a sudden, Penn was leading 6-2 and St. Joe's had to make a pitching change to help stop the bleeding.
Al Braun came to the mound in relief, but ended up pouring more salt in the wound.
He retired Moffie in the senior's second at-bat of the inning, but then cracked under pressure as Abate came up with the bases loaded.
The first baseman looked at four balls and headed over to first as the seventh run crossed the plate.
"We were just seeing the ball well," Abate said of his team's stellar hitting. "Everything just clicked today."
Things ran so smoothly that Abate was not even fazed by moving to the mound for the start of the eighth inning.
He was in the bullpen warming up when he got the call that it was his turn at the plate. The first baseman took the transition in stride as he ripped a solo home run -- his fourth home run of the year -- over the right field wall.
The Hawks were able to pick up an unearned run off Abate in the eighth, but the game was long decided by that point.
The Quakers' pitchers were superb, allowing just three runs on four hits.
"The pitching was good, as it has been all year," Seddon said. "Everybody contributed."
Seddon sent a total of seven different pitchers to the mound on the day, and none of them threw more than 28 pitches. Starter Remington Chin, used during Ivy League play as a reliever, threw only 16 pitches.
The move was an attempt to keep their arms fresh for this weekend's big four-game series against Ivy League rival -- and Lou Gehrig division leader -- Princeton.
The streaky Quakers needed this momentum going into the games -- anything worse than a split will assuredly end any title hopes for Penn.
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