For a team that had won seven of its last 10 games, a five-hit performance yesterday against La Salle was a step backward.
In what should have been a tune-up for this weekend's series against division-leading Cornell, Penn couldn't get anything going, falling 6-3 to the Explorers.
"We didn't do much right today so it was very disappointing," Penn coach John Cole said. "We got outplayed in all phases today, so not a very good performance at all."
Everything was on track for the Quakers (13-14, 7-5 Ivy) in the first three innings. Pitchers Joe Thornton and Mike Marg combined to hold the Explorers (11-16, 3-6 A-10) scoreless with the help of the defense, which turned a pair of double plays.
And in the bottom of the third, junior Alex Nwaka scored after a leadoff walk, followed by two more walks and a wild pitch.
But in the fourth inning things started to unravel. After Jim Birmingham had allowed a run and gave up consecutive hits, La Salle left fielder Davis Hewitt got caught between second and third. Catcher Josh Corn threw down to third only to have the ball trickle into left field, resulting in a run for Hewitt. This would be the first in a series of miscues for Corn, who had an uncharacteristically off day in the field.
Penn would answer to even the score in the bottom of the fourth when centerfielder Joey Boaen reached on an error and Corn drove him in with a single.
With Penn leading La Salle in most offensive categories - batting average (.286 to .270), slugging percentage (.398 to .348), and homeruns (16 to 5) - the Explorers were supposed to be the ones who couldn't cross the plate. However, Penn would struggle to score despite bunting, running, and staging hit-and-run efforts.
In the fifth inning, the Explorers would tack on three more runs when catcher Rich Prall hit a two-run home run.
The La Salle pitchers, who have a team ERA of 5.46, had difficulty locating their pitches and walked six batters. But Penn's offense could not take advantage.
"We had a tough time stringing together a lot of hits so we were never able to swing the momentum our way, and that's what this game is all about," Thornton said. "It seemed like we were never in control and that's what we need to be."
Corn echoed Thornton's disappointment with the offense.
"We've seen a lot of good pitching that we've hit better than this," Corn said. "We kept getting ourselves out; we didn't make any adjustments at the plate."
Penn's pitchers also struggled to find their command, walking five and hitting one. Cole felt the pitchers didn't have command of the strike zone with their breaking balls especially.
"Myself included, we pitched the ball up a little bit today and that hurt us," Thornton said. "We definitely preach throwing at the knees. They put up six runs today, so as a whole we didn't do our job."
While Corn concurred that this wasn't the pitching staff's finest performance, he felt that the offense should have been there to pick them up.
"Pitching shouldn't have to shut down every team we play," Corn said. "I think the hitters should have stepped up today and gotten more runs for us."
With the pitching, the offense, and the defense all struggling, Cole was extremely disappointed with his team.
He summed up the loss: "You can't win in college baseball with only five hits. Not a good performance all around."
That was far from the tune-up the Red and Blue were looking for, with arguably its biggest games of the season coming in just two days.
