With a 3-5 stretch in a trip through the Southern Conference last week, Lafayette's spring break might not have been what they expected.
And as the Leopards come into town today to take on Penn (5-6) after such a trip, coach Joe Kinney just wants to avoid slipping into an even deeper funk.
"You hope you're at least treading water," he said. "We've had some games we felt we could have won and didn't get it done."
But with the storms that hit Philadelphia last week, Lafayette (6-7) might be treading in the residual puddles or snow piles at Meiklejohn Stadium instead.
That is, if the first pitch is ever thrown.
While Kinney said on Monday that they would be "lucky" if they got onto the field today, Penn coach John Cole allowed his team to practice outside yesterday afternoon, and was optimistic about the field conditions.
"I expect to play tomorrow," he said.
But as for what else he can expect, that's a little more ambiguous.
Kinney said he plans to utilize a pitching-by-committee approach on the mound, sending out a number of different hurlers for short outings.
And Cole thinks that a repeat of last year's 10-5 win in Easton, Pa. might not be easy to come by. While the Quakers touched up five Lafayette pitchers for at least a run last time out, this season the Leopards have a substantial corps of veteran relievers waiting in the bullpen.
"They have a senior pitching staff that's very good," Cole said of a team whose top hurlers are in their final year.
Lefty Matt Kamine and right-hander Ted Gjeldum have each logged about 27 innings, posting ERAs of 3.62 and 4.33, respectively, and could both figure to make appearances this afternoon.
Given that this is a weekday game, Cole's approach won't likely be much different from Kinney's - it's a strategy he's used very frequently since taking the helm at Penn.
"We're going to take a look at a bunch of guys tomorrow to get prepped up for the weekend [two double-headers against Columbia]," Cole said.
But he knows as well as anyone that this won't likely be a cakewalk. Even though the Leopards haven't exactly stormed out of the gates this season, they have already been trained as road warriors.
Playing its entire schedule away from home, Lafayette may be tired of packing up the bus for every game, but it will be more than ready to notch another road win on its belt and even out its record.
Penn will also be battling to get above .500 today, after a heart-breaking loss to Georgetown last weekend that included a multi-balk inning dropped it to a losing record.
"I think we took a lot of good things from it," Cole said. "We're excited to play."
No matter how riled up the Quakers are, though, getting out on the field is still not a given.
But Cole had a simple solution.
"Pray for warm weather."
