Penn emerged 2-2 from a four-part series against Lehigh, splitting doubleheaders on both Saturday and Sunday.
The Quakers (3-10) dropped their home opener on Saturday by a score of 6-2 to the Mountain Hawks (8-10). Then, just before the second game at Meiklejohn Stadium began, Penn coach John Cole offered his starting pitcher, sophomore Bret Wallace, some advice.
"The one thing that he said -- and I kind of knew this going in -- was really to pound the strike zone," Wallace said. "Don't be afraid to go after hitters, let them make contact and let our defense make the plays. That was really all I was thinking about."
The sophomore seemed to take Cole's words to heart. In seven innings, Wallace allowed just one run off of six hits, leading a defensive effort that carried the Quakers to their first home win of the season.
And it was only his first collegiate start.
The right-hander missed the 2005 season due to injury, walking onto the team this year. And though Cole initially cast him as a reliever, it was Wallace whom the coach sent out to the mound for the second game.
"Coach had kind of designated me as a reliever because of my lower-arm slide, but today he kind of said, 'You know, I'm thinking about starting you,'" Wallace said.
The coach was pleased with his decision.
Wallace "did a great job," Cole said. "I'm really excited for him. He didn't play last year, and we were going to put him in a relieving role, but he came in pitching. ... I can't say enough good things about what he did today."
Wallace's efforts were backed by a team performance that had much improved since the first game, in which the Red and Blue struggled to keep balls down and had a hard time hitting off of relaxed Lehigh pitchers.
Freshman Tony Moses' two-run homer in the fifth inning of game one brought the Quakers even at 2-2 with the Mountain Hawks. But Lehigh managed four more runs off of Penn in the game's final two innings -- earning three off of starting pitcher Brian Cirri, and then another off reliever Joe Wilamowski.
Between the two games, Cole spoke to his players.
"He reminded us that we are a lot better than our record, that we have to start taking more pride in how we play," junior pitcher Josh Corn said.
"And then we came out in the second game and showed that."
Penn's Alex Nwaka opened scoring in game two in the first inning on a two-run single up the middle.
"We haven't scored in the first inning all year, Cole said. "It was the first time we did that. So it was nice playing out front with the pressure off us and on them."
Corn continued the offensive effort with RBIs in the fourth and sixth innings, bringing the Quakers to the final 5-1 result.
"I think that we got up there and we really waited on the ball better. We didn't get too anxious, we got men on base and we really stepped up a bit," Corn said. "We just really wanted to win the game because our record isn't as good as we'd like it to be."
On the road on Sunday, the Quakers repeated their split, picking up a 4-1 win and then dropping the second game 11-6 to the Mountain Hawks.
"Today, being on the road, we came out ready to play, which was good," Cole said. "We really played to win for five innings [of the second game], and then we couldn't stop them. ... It was just frustrating to see them take that game from us when we had our backs to the wall."
Despite the two splits, the coach remains optimistic about his team's progression.
"I think it was a positive week for us," Cole said. "You might not want to say that 2-2 was a good weekend, but I think we are starting to do some good things."
Penn will look to pick up another win when it visits Lafayette this Wednesday.
Lehigh 0 0 1 1 0 3 1 6PENN 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 2 Lehigh 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1PENN 3 0 0 1 0 1 0 0 X 5 PENN 0 3 0 1 0 0 0 4Lehigh 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 PENN 1 1 2 1 0 0 1 0 0 6Lehigh 0 0 0 3 1 5 2 0 X 11
