Baseball splits Ivy twin bill with Harvard

Simonian tosses four-Simonian tosses four-hitter to lead Penn toSimonian tosses four-hitter to lead Penn tovictory in first game After crushing Harvard, 8-1, in the opening game of yesterday's doubleheader, the Penn baseball team had won four straight Ivy League games -- going a long way to establishing itself as the premier team in the Ancient Eight. But in a reminder that Penn can be beaten in any given game, the Crimson roared back, defeating the Quakers, 5-3, in the nightcap. Penn (17-11, 9-3 Ivy League) cruised in the opener against Harvard. Quakers pitcher Armen Simonian -- who leads the conference in ERA -- pitched a masterpiece yesterday, sprinkling four hits over seven innings and allowing only one run. Simonian lowered his ERA from 2.48 to a sparkling 2.28 and received the complete-game win, his fourth victory of the season. The Penn hurler got plenty of help from timely hitting by the Quakers sluggers, who gave Penn a 4-0 lead by the second inning. Penn's offense was not necessarily powerful -- its only extra-base hits were two doubles, courtesy of sophomore second baseball Joe Carlon and senior center fielder Sean Turner. However, timely hitting and a poor Crimson defense allowed the Quakers to score eight runs on only eight hits. Harvard made four errors in the game, leading to five unearned runs for Penn. The offensive stars for the Quakers were second baseman Joe Carlon and catcher Rick Burt, two players that have been hitting consistently all season. Carlon went 2-for-4, knocking in two RBIs. And Burt, a Penn co-captain who called the game for Simonian, had a perfect night -- going 3-for-3, knocking in two runs. Burt raised his batting average to a cool .366, not bad for a player known more for his defensive prowess than for his offensive skills before the season began. On the Penn roster, only pitcher/first baseman Mike Shannon (.405) and Turner (.384) have higher batting averages among the regulars. In the nightcap, the Crimson enacted a measure of revenge by edging the Quakers 5-3. Harvard scored all of its runs early, tagging Penn pitcher A.B. Fischer for five earned runs in three-and-two-thirds innings. Junior pitcher Alex Hayden mopped up for Fischer, hurling a scoreless two and one-third innings, but the damage was already done. Penn scored two runs in the first inning and added another in the sixth, but Harvard pitcher Bart Brush contained the Quakers to only three runs on eight hits -- giving Brush the victory. Fischer took the loss for the Quakers. The loss was Fischer's third of the season to go with three wins. The doubleheader was originally scheduled for Sunday, but was postponed due to field conditions.

Please note All comments are eligible for publication in The Daily Pennsylvanian.