Help wanted

Good morning. Just got back from eating my words about Penn not winning five championships this year. Men's hoops, gymnastics, women's lacrosse, women's tennis, men's golf and a tie for men's tennis to be broken next week.

Anyway, Nick Francona last pitched March 27, Mike Marg and Bret Wallace April 11. Now all three are off the roster, and yesterday, that came back to hurt the Quakers in a big way.

Coach John Cole describes all three hurlers as "voluntarily retired" and did not elaborate.

For the Quakers yesterday, the math was simple and painful. Seven relievers, minus those three, minus one in Robbie Seymour who had to be fresh to pitch Tuesday against Cornell, equals three.

Three relief pitchers available for what turned out to be 19 innings of baseball.

So in Game 2 when William Gordon couldn't find the plate with a 6-4 lead and with Andy Console (Game 1) and Reid Terry (Game 2) having already pitched, there was nowhere else to turn. Cole had to leave his freshman in the ballgame. Two innings, four hits, three walks, two hit batters and six runs later, Princeton had scored its 10th unanswered run and won 10-6.

The good news for the Quakers is that if they can figure out a way to get there, the depleted bullpen shouldn't be too much of a problem in the best-of-three Ivy League Championship Series. With workhorses Todd Roth and Jim Birmingham pitching the first two, there shouldn't be much of a need for relief.