Baseball out to extend division lead

Recent history seems to suggest that the Penn baseball team will have a difficult time in its back-to-back doubleheaders against Cornell this weekend.

That's because, in last year's same pair of doubleheaders, the Big Red dominated Penn to finish the season and win the Ivy League Lou Gehrig Division.

But things have changed since then. This year, it's the Quakers (9-21, 4-8 Ivy) who find themselves leading the division, while Cornell (5-19, 1-7) is in last place, having lost 10 straight.

Not the least of the Big Red's worries, however, is the Quakers' offense, which is averaging nine hits a game.

"We think that our offense is good," junior catcher Josh Corn said "I'm pretty confident we're going to score plenty of runs every game, we never really worry about that."

Corn leads the team with a .359 batting average and is second in hits and runs scored.

But still, Penn coach John Cole said that the team has been working on specific strategies to make the team's offense even more effective for the upcoming weekend.

"Offensively, we need to create pressure, we need to get some kind of running game going, get some fastballs for our big hitters and maybe drive a ball or two out of the park," he said. "We want to create pressure against Cornell to have them never feel comfortable here the entire weekend."

The team will be forced to execute this strategy without two key parts of its offense: junior center fielder Joey Boaen and freshman second baseman Jimmy Farrell.

Boaen -- this week's Philadelphia Diamond Five Player of the Week -- suffered a fractured finger in a game last weekend, while Farrell is now recovering from a broken hand.

Whether the Quakers' lineup is deep enough to sustain this loss remains to be seen.

But now that some of their offensive power is gone, keeping the other team's scoring opportunities to a minimum is even more crucial.

"We're going to have to really execute defensively and make the routine plays to get outs," Cole said. "We're just trying to put our guys in the right position. Right now we've had a lot of changes in the infield, and now with injuries we have even more changes."

With the potential decrease in offensive production, the Quakers' pitching also comes into question. It has been somewhat of a weak link this year, as the Red and Blue's hurlers have a combined 7.90 ERA.

Luckily for Penn, Cornell's bats have been fairly quiet this season. This was highlighted by its last game -- a 19-5 blow-out at the hands of LeMoyne Tuesday.

But as Cole warns, any team can have a big game if given the opportunity, and the key will be to keep it close.

"We want to get the game to Doug Brown," Cole said. "He's been our most consistent pitcher, and we think we have a weapon at the end of the game. So if we can keep the game close and get it to him, then we feel pretty good about it."

The freshman leads the team with a 2.70 ERA and has given up only one earned run in his last three appearances.

And despite the team's inconsistent play and the losses of Boaen and Farrell, the Quakers are confident looking ahead to the matchups this weekend.

"The team's morale is very, very good," Corn said. "We're coming off of playing really well last weekend, and knowing that we have a chance to win our side of the league, we're really excited about it. If we continue to play great defense and pitch well, I think we'll get some wins this weekend."

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