'War' at Meiklejohn stadium

The last time the Penn baseball team shared a field with Brown, the Bears dumped 20 runs on the visiting Quakers to complete a two-game sweep in the Ivy League Championship Series last May.

This time around, the defending champs come to West Philly to renew the rivalry.

The Quakers (6-7) open the Ivy League season with a pair of doubleheaders at Meiklejohn Stadium on Saturday and Sunday, playing host to Yale (6-14) and Brown (6-8), respectively.

And though this year's Red and Blue roster features 11 new faces, those who remain from the 2007 squad haven't forgotten how last season ended.

"It'll be a war with them on Sunday," Penn coach John Cole said of the Bears, who return 19 players from last season's championship club. "They can hit, they're strong, and they've got some good young pitching."

In their final non-conference tune-up on Tuesday, the Quakers blew a four-run lead and were bounced from the Liberty Bell Classic with a 6-5 home loss to Lafayette, dropping to just 2-4 in one-run games this year.

While Cole appreciates the experience that such tight contests have given his youthful squad-, he knows that in the annually-tight Ivy standings, coming out on the right side of close margins makes all the difference.

"I think we're prepared to play in close games," he said. "Getting accustomed to winning them is part of the maturation process."

The key to prevailing in these showdowns may be the Quakers' iffy bullpen arms. In Tuesday's loss, Penn relievers hit four batters and walked three more, opening the door for the Leopards to claw back from their 5-1 deficit.

"It's never as simple as telling them [to throw strikes]," Cole said. "Otherwise, they wouldn't need me."

Despite this emphasis on commanding the strike zone, Quakers hurlers might be wise to avoid the plate altogether when Yale catcher Ryan Lavarnway steps into the box.

The junior - whom Cole calls "without a doubt the best player in the conference" - leads his team with a .397 average, eight long-balls and 23 runs batted in on the year.

Last season, Larvarnway led all NCAA players with his .467 average and .873 slugging percentage, and was named Third-Team All-America by Baseball America.

Nonetheless, the Quakers are one team he has never roughed up. In a two-game Penn sweep in New Haven last season, Lavarnway went 1-for-6 with zero RBI. He is just 2-for-11 in his collegiate career against the Red and Blue.

If they're able to contain the Bulldogs' backstop yet again, the Quakers can set their sights on their Rhode Island rivals - and avenging last season's failure in the Ivy Series.

"Brown's one of the most physical teams in Division I," Cole said.

"It's a good rivalry."

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