Baseball begins meat of schedule

The Penn baseball team began its season with an 8-2 trip west over spring break. Since then, however, it is the Quakers' fortunes that have gone on break. The Quakers will be seeking to turn around their 1-3 skid this weekend. Bower Field doubleheaders against Brown and Yale, at noon today and tomorrow, will provide the opportunity. Both the Bears and Elis have struggled so far. Coming off their own spring trip, the Bears have recently faced such difficult opponents as Top 25 Kent State. Brown's difficult early schedule has come as no surprise to Bear coach Bill Almon. Although Brown's 0-8 record is disappointing, Almon has been looking to give his team valuable experience. "All the teams we played on the trip have played 30 or more games already," Almon said. "I didn't want our guys to face a bunch of easy teams. We wanted them to face teams used to competition." There have been bright spots on Brown's winless trip, among them pitcher Al Hargrave, who came through with a strong performance against Kent State. Pitcher Mike Humphreys has hit three home runs and third baseman Matt DeFusco has had an impressive start at the plate. "There were some games we could have and should have won," Almon said. "We let some slip away. I thought we would win at least a couple." In Penn, the Bears face a team that handed them two losses by a combined score of 25-0 last season. This time around, Brown will be hoping to make up for those embarrassments. "Penn beat us soundly last year," Almon said. "We're naturally looking to see the other side of that this year. Penn's a solid team and they're not going to beat themselves." Beating themselves, though, is one thing the Quakers have majored in lately. Mixed into the three losses in Penn's last four games have been a variety of problems. In two of those games, against Rider and Columbia, the Quaker bats, which started off the season hot, were ice cold. Against Rider and Delaware, meanwhile, mental errors and bullpen letdowns cost Penn two games it could have won. "I'm concerned we're beginning to let some games get away from us," Penn coach Bob Seddon said. "That was a problem last year. But there's no reason to panic yet." At the same time, facing winless Brown and 4-7 Yale, the Quakers must avoid relying on their opponents' records as indicators of what's to come. Last weekend, Penn (9-5) faced 2-11 Columbia and came away with just a split. "I think we learned when we went up to Columbia that records don't mean much when it comes to Ivy League play," Quaker second baseman Derek Nemeth said. "Just looking at records, we might think we should be fine, but we can't look at it that way." That trap could prove especially dangerous against the Elis, whose 4-7 mark is especially misleading. Yale swept the Quakers last season on its way to the Ivy League title, and this season's seven losses include four one-run games, two of which went 11 innings. In addition, Yale's spring trip was extremely tough, as the Elis faced such difficult foes as North Carolina State, East Carolina and UNC-Greensboro. "We went down and played probably the toughest schedule in Yale spring trip history," Eli coach John Stuper said. "We were very much battle-tested. Our record is disappointing, but not disheartening." Despite the poor record and a 5.44 team ERA, Yale is counting on its pitching to lead it to another Ivy League championship. Although the Elis lost four players from last year's team to the professional ranks aside from graduation attrition, Yale returns all 33 pitching victories from the 1993 squad. Tomorrow, Jason Bohannon and Adam Doherty will take the mound against Penn. Doherty is 2-1 with a 3.18 ERA, while Bohannon's 0-1 record and 8.10 ERA are expected to improve quickly in Ivy play. "Jason hasn't had an easy spring by any means," Stuper said. "But last year he was 5-1 with a 2.15 ERA, and we're looking for the same type of thing this year." On the offensive side, the Elis once again rely on speed to get things going. Center fielder Dave Feuerstein has stolen 15 bases in 19 attempts, and has been equally impressive at the plate, batting .400. Feuerstein's partner in crime is shortstop Tom Hutchison, who has 13 thefts of his own. "We faced both of those guys last year," Nemeth said. "We know who they are. We have to try to keep them off the bases, but it doesn't mean we change our game plan. We just have to be extra careful." Providing the hitting firepower for perennially strong Yale have been first baseman Bryan Hobbs and outfielder Dan Thompson. Hobbs is batting .405, Thompson .333, but each has knocked in 13 runs. Despite his team's impressive talent and mostly impressive statistics, Stuper knows he must be wary against Ivy League competition. "Penn is a team I fear," Stuper said. "Bob Seddon has been around a long time and knows what he's doing. We're the two-time defending Ivy champs. These teams are lying in wait for us." The question for Penn, then, is whether or not the Quakers will be up to that challenge. Early-season successes have turned quickly into somewhat of a slump for Penn, and the Quakers know they cannot waste a chance to turn that around. "We have to play well to beat Yale and Brown," Seddon said. "I have confidence in our team, but we have to have a good weekend. We have to do everything right to beat Yale. And although Brown's off to a bad start, they've got some talent there. We just need this to be a big weekend for us."

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