Of all the sports in the world, the game which can be best explained through the numbers is baseball.
And so far for the Penn baseball team's pitching staff, this is no exception.
Minus-2, plus-1 and 8.57.
Minus two arms -- the left arm of sophomore Nick Francona and the right arm of sophomore Andy Console. On a team with a medical report as long as an extra-innings scorecard, Francona and Console won't pitch this season as each gradually recovers from a torn labrum.
Even with the two losses on the mound, there has been a big plus-1 for the rotation.
It came as a pleasant surprise Saturday when sophomore Bret Wallace took the mound for his first career start and left after seven innings without giving up an earned run.
The performance earned him Ivy League Pitcher of the Week.
But overall, the outings haven't been good for the Quakers, and the result is a 3-10 record and an 8.57 team ERA.
"We're very limited on the mound right now," first-year coach John Cole said. "And we're trying to piece it all together."
Since the Quakers returned home from their spring trip to Florida, that process has accelerated.
Over their eight-game swing through the Sunshine State, the Quakers allowed 12.5 runs per game and gave up at least two multiple-run innings in each one.
But Penn pitchers have improved in the Northeast, only giving up 4.8 per game, including back-to-back wins over Lehigh of 5-1 and 4-1.
According to Penn's captain, starting right-hander Brian Cirri, this came naturally to a young staff.
"Now that they've gotten [some games] under their belt and feel a little bit more confident, that's a huge factor," said Cirri, who leads the team with four starts.
Still, with the injuries and the Ivy League season fast approaching, the goal for Cole and company is to put together an effective starting rotation.
"We're not there yet," Cole said.
"We haven't had four quality starts in a row."
The staff will have a "bullpen day," which will feature short outings by lots of pitching, in today's doubleheader at Lafayette.
Last season, the Leopards touched up Penn pitching for 24 hits in a 23-7 victory over the Quakers in Easton, Pa.
But after making that same road trip today, the Quakers will open up the Ivy League season this weekend with a home doubleheader against Columbia Saturday and two against the Lions in New York Sunday.
And one man who will be on the mound as a starter this weekend will be Wallace, who stepped into his first start like it was nothing.
"I'd been a starter my whole life," the right-hander said. "It wasn't something I was surprised by or nervous for."
But Wallace wasn't starting last season. In fact, he wasn't throwing at all.
During his freshman year, Wallace was recovering from osteochondrosis dissecans, which caused a loss of blood supply to a bone in his knee.
Five permanent screws, six weeks of no impact and a physical rehabilitation later, Wallace says the knee is as healed as it's ever going to be.
"I don't know how good it can get from here," he said. "I think I might just have some permanent sort of disability."
Luckily for the Quakers, it's not a disability that will stop him from taking the mound this weekend.
