The Penn baseball team headed south last week. And like some other unlucky spring breakers, the Quakers came back burned.
Penn returned under the weight of a 1-7 record, dropping its first seven in Florida before pulling out a win over Maine.
Pitching and hitting plagued the Red and Blue, who suffered losses to Eckerd, Saint Leo, South Florida, Central Florida and Maine. Penn won the final game of a three-game series against Maine for its first victory of the 2006 season.
"That was a big statement by our team," Penn coach John Cole said of the Quakers' 15-12 victory over the Black Bears on Saturday.
Heading into the sixth inning, the Quakers trailed 12-6 against the Black Bears (4-6). Already dragging the weight of seven losses, the Quakers had every reason to be discouraged.
Instead, the team cut Maine's lead to three by the bottom of the seventh inning and then rallied for six unanswered runs in the eighth to edge out the Black Bears 15-12.
"Instead of giving up, we came back," Cole said. "That was the right direction for us. The kids are starting to learn how to fight."
Facing Maine twice before Saturday, the Quakers had given up a total of 24 runs and earned only seven of their own -- first in a 10-5 loss on Thursday and then in a 14-2 defeat on Friday.
Pitching faltered in the early stages of Saturday's game as junior Joe Thornton allowed five runs on four hits in two and one-third innings.
"We lost way too many balls off the zone," Cole said. "We have a long way to go to get better."
But Penn seemed to regain its footing as junior reliever Doug Brown helped the Quakers pick up their first victory. Brown walked none, struck out four and allowed only one run in three innings of relief. Senior Michael Gibbons wrapped up Penn's win with a scoreless ninth.
Saturday's results may not erase a disheartening Penn record, but they do provide a hopeful end to an otherwise gloomy run.
"You want to finish the trip off on a good note, especially since we had such a rough start," Cole said. "Hopefully now they are starting to believe in some of the things we are trying to get across to them in practice."
Back in the Philadelphia cold, the Quakers are set to kick off their home season on March 15. The Red and Blue will look to turn Saturday's win into a trend when they face city rival Temple in Ambler, Pa.
