In its home opener, pitching was the name of the game for the Penn baseball team in a 5-1 win over Temple.
The Quakers (4-5) limited the Owls (4-10) to just one unearned run. Head coach John Cole used nine different pitchers to help notch the win.
Freshman Reid Terry started and got the win, improving to 1-2. With conference games coming up, Cole was looking to straighten out any kinks in the rotation.
"I was very pleased with the pitchers and the amount of strikes they threw," Cole said. "They kept the ball down, which we worked very hard on yesterday and the day before."
The star pitcher of the day was Todd Roth, who squashed an Owl rally in the sixth inning. The original plan was one pitcher per inning, but with two on, two out and the game on the line, Cole called upon Roth early.
Roth faced second baseman Matt Heltz, who grounded out to shortstop to end the inning.
"It's not easy with a new pitcher coming in each inning, but he did a great job shutting them down and making sure we kept the lead," senior catcher Josh Corn said of Roth.
"I just really wanted to make sure to hit my spots," Roth said. "I didn't want to let the game get out of hand."
The pitchers combined for three walks and eight strikeouts; only a throwing error by third baseman Jim Farrell in the fourth inning allowed a run.
"It feels really good to go out there as a team and throw quality inning after quality inning," Roth said.
Offensively Penn was solid, getting five runs on twelve hits.
In the first inning, first baseman Tim May slapped a double to right field, which extended his hitting streak to six games. Corn then drove him in with an RBI single. In the third inning, junior Kyle Armeny drove May in again after he had led off the inning with a single.
In the fourth, the Quakers missed a golden opportunity to blow the game open with the bases loaded and one out and their three and four hitters on deck; but May hit into a fielders choice and Corn hit the ball hard and deep to the left fielder.
"He threw a changeup and I just missed it," Corn said. "I didn't get it on the good part of the bat. I was . annoyed because I could have done a lot more with that pitch."
In the seventh inning however, Corn would redeem himself. With May on first, Corn smacked an RBI double to left center. Armeny, freshman Steve Gable and freshman William Gordon followed with singles, with Gable bringing in Corn and junior Jarron Smith, who pinch-ran for Armeny.
Not everything was perfect, however. The Red and Blue committed three errors, one of which cost them a run.
"We need to get airtight," Cole said, "and not give teams too many outs per inning."
He also hopes to see better at-bats with runners in scoring position, as the team left ten runners on base. But overall, Cole was very pleased with his team's composure in a tight game.
"I really liked the way we came to play today," Cole said. "I thought there was an air of confidence and winning."
