Junior reliever Doug Brown's outing did not start well; the first pitch he threw was stroked into left field for a base hit by Lafayette's Joe Ezekiel.
That hit loaded the bases with no outs in the bottom of the eight inning and brought the potential tying run to the plate with Penn leading 9-5.
But Brown retired the next three hitters and got a 1-2-3 ninth as the Quakers beat the Leopards, 10-5, in Easton, Pa.
The man at the plate in the pivotal eighth inning was freshman Chris Luick, who was hitting .375 coming into the at-bat.
But Brown did not let the pressure get to him.
"I didn't really get worried," he said.
He said that he tried to come inside to Luick, looking for a ground ball or a pop-up.
Instead, with the count full, Luick swung and missed for the first out.
Then, Brown tried to induce a double-play grounder, but instead got Chris Losch to pop up to second baseman Ken-Ichi Hino.
A harmless grounder to shortstop James Conrad ended the inning and the threat, allowing Penn (4-10) to get its third win in four games.
Quakers coach John Cole had nothing but praise for Brown's performance.
"He's been our best pitcher," Cole said.
And disregarding a game against South Florida early in the year where Brown gave up nine runs (five earned) in 3 2/3 innings, his numbers on an otherwise struggling pitching staff have been astounding.
Other than the one bad outing, Brown has a 0.79 earned run average in eight appearances, allowing only three hits and one run while striking out 14 and walking three.
This compares to a team ERA that was 8.57 coming into yesterday's game, with a 1.05 strikeouts-to-walk ratio.
Brown credits his success to a calm demeanor and good control.
"I know I can hit my spots; I know I can get people out," he said.
That isn't to say that he doesn't show emotion after his appearances.
"After the inning I was real excited," he said. "I was happy just to get out of it."
Offensively, the Quakers also enjoyed a breakout day.
Penn scored in each of the first five innings, jumping out to an 8-2 lead against the Leopards (3-11).
Led by freshman catcher Tim May's 4-for-5 day with three RBIs, the Quakers scored 10 runs for just the third time this season.
"I'm really proud of the way we're starting out strong," Cole said.
Cole was trying to get his team to be more aggressive early in the game at the plate and on the bases.
Penn stole three bases in seven tries.
Senior Brian Cirri (1-3) started the evening for the Quakers, going the first 2 1/3 innings.
He was followed up by reigning Ivy League pitcher of the week, sophomore Bret Wallace, whose three-run (one earned) performance in 2 2/3 innings earned him the win.
Steven Schwartz pitched the next two innings and Michael Gibbons started the eighth before Brown came in.
Despite the recent success, both Cole and Brown warned that the Quakers are still making mistakes and have some things to work on.
However, Brown said the team has definitely turned a corner.
"I think it's really showing a lot of people that it's not the same team anymore," he said.
QUAKERS AB R H BI BB SO Avg.
Boaen cf 6 2 2 3 0 0 .280
Corn c 3 2 2 0 3 0 .391
Armeny lf 6 1 1 1 0 0 .327
Moses rf 4 0 1 0 2 1 .298
May dh 5 1 4 3 0 0 .244
Abate 1b 5 0 0 0 0 1 .093
Nwaka 3b 4 2 1 1 1 3 .279
Hino 2b 3 2 1 0 2 0 .200
Farrell ss 2 0 0 0 2 1 .239
Totals 38 10 12 8 10 6 .253
Leopards AB R H BI BB SO Avg.
Law ss 4 0 0 0 1 0 .240
Raible rf 5 0 2 2 0 1 .388
Cortazar 3b 3 1 0 0 1 0 .327
McCutcheon ph 1 0 0 0 0 1 .200
Ambrosole c 2 0 0 0 0 0 .395
Drechsel c 1 0 0 0 0 0 .148
Leasure lf 4 2 2 1 0 0 .378
Butler dh 1 0 0 0 0 0 .353
Ezekiel ph-dh 2 0 1 0 0 1 .167
Roberts pr-dh 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000
Benvenuto 1b 1 0 0 0 0 0 .270
Luick ph-1b 2 0 1 0 0 1 .353
Bierce 2b 1 0 0 0 0 1 .231
Losch ph-2b 3 0 0 0 0 0 .000
Conrad cf 2 2 1 0 1 0 .167
Totals 32 5 7 3 4 5 .287
Penn 122 210 011 -- 10 12 3
Lafayette 000 211 100 -- 5 7 2
E - Hino (5); Farrell (6); Wallace (2);Cortazar (3); Benvenuto (2). DP - Penn 1. LOB - Penn 12; Lafayette 7. 2B - Boaen (3); May 2(2); Hino (1); Raible (5). HR - Boaen (1); Leasure (1). HBP - Drechsel; Luick; Conrad. SH - Farrell (1). SB - Boaen (2); Corn (1); Nwaka (5). CS - Moses (1); Hino (1); Raible 2(3).
Quakers IP H R ER BB SO ERA
Cirri 2.1 1 0 0 2 2 6.65
Wallace (W, 2-0) 2.2 2 3 1 1 0 3.58
Schwartz 2.0 2 2 2 1 1 8.06
Gibbons 0.0 1 0 0 0 0 6.08
Brown (S, 2) 2.0 1 0 0 0 2 3.58
Leopards IP H R ER BB SO ERA
Cope (L, 1-2) 2.2 4 5 3 3 1 6.46
Morytko 0.2 3 2 2 1 0 3.86
Mostek 1.2 0 1 1 2 1 3.38
Tucker 2.0 1 0 0 2 1 3.86
Lunau 1.0 1 1 1 2 2 9.00
Roberts 1.0 3 1 1 0 1 7.82
WP - Mortyko, 2(3); Mostek (1); Tucker (2).
Gibbons faced 2 batters in the 8th.
