Baseball's much-wanted fresh start is finally here

Joe DiMaggio once said of opening day: "You look forward to it like a birthday party when you're a kid. You think something wonderful is going to happen."

The Quakers begin their season tomorrow with the first of eight games in Boca Raton, Fla., and they hope that some wonders are in their future.

Last year their season went south when they did, as Penn finished 1-7 on their annual Florida trip en route to a disappointing 12-27 overall record. Yet one of the beauties of opening day is that every team starts with a clean slate.

"We feel like we're returning a much better team," said senior tri-captain Josh Corn. "I feel like we're going to do well."

Corn will be behind the plate tomorrow afternoon, but coach John Cole has yet to decide on the rest of his lineup or his pitching rotation for the week.

"We don't just throw out four starters," he said. "I like to go matchups, look at their weaknesses, their tendencies and put the guy that I feel would be most successful against them."

The Red and Blue open their season with their first of two games this week against Maine. The Black Bears, who have won two straight America East title, are the unanimous favorites to complete the three-peat.

Two of their 35 wins came against the Quakers in Florida last year. The Black Bears were just two innings away from completing the three-game sweep before Penn exploded for a six-run eighth inning.

The key to this year's series will be the Quakers' pitching. Maine's top four returning sluggers each had an on-base-plus-slugging percentage over .950. Curt Smith hit .390 on the season, and 2006 America East Rookie of the Year and Freshman All-American Kevin McAvoy slugged 10 home runs with 64 runs batted in.

"We need to keep them off-balance with off-speed," Cole said.

However, he said he would not pitch around any of the Bears' big bats - mainly because the heart of their order is so stacked.

"Look, we can't put these kids in the Hall of Fame either," he said. "We get the ball down and away, they roll over some balls, and we catch it, we're going to be right where we want to be."

The Quakers face four other opponents during their week of 80-degree sunshine. They have a doubleheader against St. Bonaventure and Mt. St. Mary's on Sunday and face Boston College Monday before, finally, a day off.

Both the Bonnies and the Mount were swept in a three-game series against Duke earlier in the season, although the Mount have gone 2-2 since.

The Bonnies feature A-10 Player of the Year Brian Pellegrini, who led the conference with 13 home runs, 57 RBI, and a .471 on-base percentage, and finished second by slugging .654.

On the mound, they're led by southpaw ace Cody Vincent, who maintained a 2.58 earned run average while pitching in a school-record 97.2.

BC, meanwhile, features a predominantly right-handed rotation.

Corn doesn't think the team has a preference over the types of pitchers it will face.

"Maybe a lefty, since we have so many righties and the lefties can also hit lefties," he said. "But I don't mind seeing either, and I think a lot of guys on the team feel the same way."

On their way to Boca Raton, the Eagles will stop in Fort Myers, Fla. to become the first American team to face Boston Red Sox pitcher Daisuke Matsuzaka.

Penn concludes its eight-game trip against Fordham on Saturday, March 10. The Rams, who lost by one in each of their three games thus far, feature right-handed ace Cory Riordan. The 6-foot-3 junior was named the top prospect in the A-10 by Baseball America.

Cole is not worried about the weapons other teams bring to the table.

"Fear really is not an issue for us right now," he said. "Respect is, [but] . we're actually going to be playing ourselves more than the other team, especially the first four games, to see what we have."

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