The donation William Meiklejohn made that got Penn's Murphy Field named in his honor also included a big new scoreboard in left-center field. Too bad it wasn't big enough to tell the story of Saint Joseph's fourth inning.
The score line for the Hawks read as follows: "0,0,0,2,2,1,3,2,0." Had that been accurate, the game may have been manageable for Penn. However, that fourth column said what it did simply because "12" wouldn't fit.
That dozen runs was enough to hand the Quakers their worst loss of the season, 20-9. Penn has now given up double-digit scores in three straight games, all losses.
Once it started, the Quakers (6-14, 2-2 Ivy) could do nothing to stop the Hawks' offensive surge.
"Nobody seemed to want to step up and stop that big inning when it starts to happen," assistant coach Ryan Wheeler said. "When we get a walk then an error it gets everybody saying, 'Uh-oh, not again.'"
St. Joe's (10-18) had batted around and scored eight runs before Penn junior pitcher Joe Thornton got designated hitter Matt Godusky to ground out to third.
That was the first out of the inning.
In total, the Hawks sent 16 men to the plate and turned a three-run deficit to into a nine-run lead on just eight hits.
The 12 runs were more than St. Joe's had scored in all but one full game this season and eclipsed the Hawks' season average of 4.8 per game before the first out was recorded.
Right-hander Kenny Yoo started the inning for the Quakers and promptly loaded the bases on a pair of walks and a hit batsman. The junior had a chance to minimize the damage by getting St. Joe's catcher Dustin Onulak to pop one up to right field. Sophomore Michael Gatti got a glove on it but dropped the ball, allowing Adriano Petrutz to score from third.
"It ignited the whole inning," Wheeler said, emphasizing that it wasn't the only thing that went wrong for Penn. That one play yielded just a single run, but it added to plenty of frustration for a team that finished the game with seven errors.
Hawks left fielder Jereme Scott lashed a single past sophomore second baseman Scott Graham, allowing two more runs to score and tying the game at three.
Credit goes to the Hawks' aggressiveness on the base paths in this inning and throughout the game for forcing the issue and leading to Penn miscues.
"They're putting guys on base to create that pressure," Wheeler said.
Junior lefty Steve Belfiglio came in with the bases loaded and the pressure was on. Belfiglio gave up three hits and hit a batter before giving way to Joe Thornton.
The junior right hander gave up three hits -- and four runs -- but got the requisite three outs to stop the bleeding when Chris Cashman popped out to short.
The fourth-inning fireworks for the Hawks wiped away what had begun as a solid outing by Penn. Sophomore starter Brett Wallace had worked a scoreless first and senior Brian Cirri allowed just a double in two innings of work before Yoo took over.
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