In the fifth inning of yesterday's nightcap against Saint Joseph's, Penn's seemingly-safe 6-1 lead appeared to be slipping away.
Paul Cusick walked two in the top of the frame and allowed the Hawks to pull within three runs before he stranded the bases loaded.
And in the bottom half, Dan Williams and Jeff Cellucci produced quick outs, doing little to stop the Hawks' momentum.
But then Michael Gatti lined an innocent single over the shortstop's head, and suddenly the floodgates opened. The Quakers would score five runs that inning, on two more singles and a double, to take a commanding lead.
It was emblematic of their day-long effort. The Red and Blue may have scored 22 runs and slugged four homers, but two-out rallies and run manufacturing made all the difference.
Penn set the tone early in the double dip. With two outs in the second inning of the opener, shortstop Dan Williams was hit by a pitch, and Gatti hit a bloop to shallow left. Williams darted for the hot corner, testing the left fielder's arm and the baseball maxim against making the third out at third.
"That's what our style wants to be," coach John Cole said. "We want to be able to take that extra base, especially first to third. And the kids have kind of bought into that and they're doing a good job being aggressive base runners. You don't have to be extra fast."
Williams' head-first slide just beat the throw, Gatti hustled into second ("I was expecting him to go to third," Gatti said) and a hard grounder to short - ultimately thrown away - plated them both.
All of this with without hitting a ball more than 120 feet, and with two outs.
"We're getting too many two-out rallies," Cole said, even after the two wins. "I want big run innings starting with the first guy getting on . Not out, out and then get our offense started."
There were times, though, when Penn executed earlier in innings. During the second inning of the nightcap, an error and a single set up catcher Jeff Cellucci - who's now hitting .125 - with two men on base. He fouled off an attempted hit-and-run and then an attempted bunt, but with two strikes he hit the ball to the right side, advancing both runners.
The Quakers bench was elated, leaving the dugout and screaming, "Good job, Jeff!"
Then Gatti, yesterday's small-ball king, grounded to short for a run batted in and a 3-0 lead.
"You've gotta move runners, you've gotta have those quality AB's, and we haven't been doing that," Cole said. "It's nice to kinda watch guys move around the bases."
He was able to watch his players both quickly round second as they dashed for third. And he was able to watch them slowly trot around them all, as they swatted four balls out of Meiklejohn Stadium.
That's left the Quakers with a bit of bipolarity, although it was unclear whether Cole was complaining.
"I'm not sure what we are yet," he said.
"We need to establish an identity, no question about it."
