Adrian Thomas doesn't have a particular affinity for stealing bases. In fact, there are six Penn players who have swiped more bags than the team's newly anointed leadoff man. But the left fielder knows how to make his presence felt on the bases.
Thomas' savvy baserunning helped the Quakers to a 6-2 victory against Lehigh (20-26, 4-12 Patriot) yesterday to salvage a split in the doubleheader.
"We preach it all the time in practice - dirt-ball reads. Making sure if the ball gets away from the catcher to take the next base," said Thomas, who went 2-for-3 with two runs in the game-two victory. "It puts a little bit of pressure on them."
Thomas advanced on a pitch in the dirt, took a base on a hit-and-run and scored on a wild pitch over the course of the contest. The freshman forced the issue on the basepaths and helped prevent a season sweep by the Mountain Hawks, who beat the Quakers in Boca Raton, Fla., earlier in the season.
But this aggressive approach was born out of desperation. The Red and Blue (15-19, 6-9 Ivy) once again saw their bats fall silent as they dropped game one, 3-0, so they adopted a different mindset for the nightcap. But this lack of production is a scenario to which coach John Cole has become accustomed.
"Kind of typical - not a lot of offense," he said.
While Lehigh's game-one starter Kevin Mihalik had Penn's number - "We couldn't sniff his change-up," Cole said - the Quakers were ultimately responsible for their own undoing in that contest.
Twice Penn led off an inning with an extra-base hit, and both times it failed to capitalize.
Catcher Mike Mariano - who went 3-for-5 with two RBI on the day - smacked a double down the left-field line to start the fourth, but his teammates did not even advance him to third. And an inning later, Michael Gatti got greedy and was caught in a rundown after trying to stretch his leadoff double into a triple.
But Penn was intent on capitalizing on its opportunities in game two.
"After the first one didn't go our way, we kind of made sure that we did what we needed to do to make adjustments for that second game," Thomas said.
The Quakers' bullpen, as it rarely has this season, stepped up in a big way during a trying midweek game.
Starters Robbie Seymour and Sam Gilbert struggled, giving up five earned runs in three combined innings of work. But the Penn relief corps stayed strong, logging 11 scoreless frames.
Sparsely used sophomore Anthony Aruffo gave up just one hit in three innings over the course of the day, and freshman Paul Cusick worked out of jams in two straight innings in game two.
Penn's issue, as it has often been this season, was inconsistency at the plate.
While yesterday's games had no bearing on the Quakers' odds - long as they are - at the Gehrig Division title, it did illuminate a pressing need that must be addressed.
"It's a work in progress with our offense," Cole said "We've gotta get more pressure if we're gonna make a run at this thing."
