Cold weather, failed bunts doom Quakers

Baseball coach John Cole got exactly what he asked for when he scheduled the Quakers' home opener for February, the earliest it's been in years.

Friday's scheduled doubleheader was delayed over 90 minutes because of frost on the infield dirt.

When Penn and West Chester finally took the field at Meiklejohn Stadium to play only one game, it was 35 degrees.

And by the time the Golden Rams walked away with a 2-1 victory - in a game with little offense or excitement - the temperature had dipped well below freezing.

Cole, though, was unfazed.

"We were thrilled to play today," he said.

His squad jumped out to an early 1-0 lead in the second inning, no thanks to its bats. Designated hitter Tim May tried to pull an outside pitch and grounded weakly to third, but the third baseman's throw sailed well high of first base.

Tom Grandieri - donning the same number 21 as his basketball-playing brother - hit a soft chopper between first and second, good enough for an infield single.

Senior Alex Nwaka popped up his bunt attempt, but after a walk and a lineout, another Golden Rams' throwing error plated the Quakers' only run.

That was about it from Penn's offense, which managed just five hits.

Cole approached the game like an exhibition contest, as he had scripteded who would pitch and for how long.

Staff ace Todd Roth earned the start and threw three shutout innings, striking out two. His control was decent - 19 of his 34 pitches were strikes - but his velocity was down, topping out at 83 miles per hour.

"It was a little lower than I'd like to be, but it's cold out," he said.

He was wearing multiple layers, and he said the weather "tightens your hands up a little bit."

The rest of Cole's pitching succession went according to plan, until the seventh inning.

Sophomore Robbie Seymour, who sported an 11.38 earned run average in 12 appearances last year, continued to struggle.

He retired the first man he faced, but a one-out, four-pitch walk got him into trouble. Golden Rams catcher Bob Stumpo then sliced a single just past the outstretched arm of shortstop Dan Williams.

The next batter, Frank Nunan, was thrown out on a chopper in front of the plate. That put two runners in scoring position with two outs, as Nick Spisak came to the plate. Cole then made the call to the bullpen.

"At that point, [Seymour] just didn't have command," Cole said. "We wanted to go breaking ball on Spisak. It's hard to grip the ball, and when you see a guy struggling with second and third, you don't want to risk a dirt ball."

Reid Terry came in and threw a curve, but Spisak blooped it into short left-centerfield. Both runners scored, to give the Golden Rams' a 2-1 lead.

And with the weather silencing both teams' bats, that proved to be the difference.

The Quakers managed a two-out single in the seventh, and a leadoff walk in the eighth. But both opportunities were squandered - Penn got just two runners to second base all day - and the Red and Blue went down in order in the ninth.

In the eighth, bunt specialist Michael Gatti pinch-hit for May, the cleanup hitter. But he missed his first two bunt attempts, and on a 3-2 pitch, he fouled back his third try to strikeout.

"He's probably one of our better bunters, and the [pitcher] was in the zone - so c'mon, three cracks at it," Cole said of the decision to bunt with two strikes.

"Very frustrating. Oh gosh, I can't tell you how many times we preached it, we worked on it. That was the most disappointing thing."

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