Quakers escape with two Ivy wins

The Penn baseball team earned a tie after a game was called due to rain. Penn reliever Ed Kimlin was credited with a victory in the second game of the Quakers' doubleheader with Columbia on Friday. But what Kimlin accomplished was nothing less than a save. After dropping the first game of the twinbill to the Lions, 9-2, Penn again found itself in trouble late in the second contest. In the top of the sixth inning, with Columbia down by two, Lions outfielder Jason Halper launched an A.B. Fischer pitch 360 feet over the rightfield fence, tying the game at nine. After watching his team squander a six-run lead, Penn coach Bob Seddon went to his bullpen and brought in Kimlin, a junior without a career win to his name. Although Kimlin allowed a run in the top of the seventh inning, his teammates bailed him out, as catcher Dan Corleto scored Shawn Spiezio on a suicide squeeze in the bottom of the inning. Kimlin then recorded a 1-2-3 eighth and watched Penn's Jeremy Milken knock in the winning run a few minutes later. Nevermind this was merely the second game of the Ivy League season. Kimlin's victory saved the Quakers from getting swept at Bower Field, a potentially disastrous result. "It was a pretty crucial win even though it's our second [Ivy] game," Kimlin said. "We get swept today, and we are in big trouble." Instead, Penn escaped with a split and the chance to steal a couple games from the Lions in New York the following day. "It's kind of mixed emotions because we feel [Bower Field] is our place," Kimlin said. "To lose the game the way we did the first time, getting run off the field, was embarrassing. Certainly coming back to win an eker was nice, but we don't feel like we're solid right now." The opening game of the second doubleheader in as many days proved to be a pitchers' duel, with neither team scoring through seven innings. In the end, though, Penn ace Armen Simonian outlasted Columbia's Matt Rothfleisch in extra innings. Corleto again proved to be a late-inning hero for the Quakers. He reached first base on a fielder's choice and moved over to second when Drew Corradini was hit by a pitch. He then scored the eventual game-winner, when third baseman Glen Ambrosius legged out a triple, scoring both Corleto and Corradini. Simonian then pitched a 1-2-3 inning to earn the four-hit shutout. What could have easily been an 0-3 start to the Ivy season instead turned out to be a solid 2-1 series lead over Gehrig Division contender Columbia. The fourth and final game of the home-and-home doubleheader series again refused to be decided in seven innings. This time, though, it was the Lions who jumped on the scoreboard early. Penn starter Alex Hayden recorded only one out before Seddon was forced to bring in some relief. In his 1/3 inning of work, Hayden allowed five earned runs on four hits, a walk and a wild pitch. Hayden's final throw resulted in a two-run blast over the centerfield fence by shortstop Jason Wynn. Kimlin came in with the bases cleared and surrendered another homer to Gary Kahn before recording the final two outs of the inning. The Quakers pitchers held strong for the next six innings, allowing just two more runs the rest of the way. Closer Travis Arbogast held Columbia scoreless for the final three innings despite walking five. With the pitchers finally settling down, the Penn offense came alive, scoring eight runs over the third and fourth innings. Again, the game was tied after seven innings. But with a torrential downpour flooding Columbia's field, the game had to be called, resulting in the unlikeliest of baseball outcomes -- a tie. Despite the 2-1-1 Ivy record and an early lead in the Gehrig Division, the Quakers are nowhere near the shape they need to be in to win the conference. The two-day series created more questions than it answered. One area of concern as Penn looks ahead to the rest of the Ivy season has to be the quality of the pitching. Simonian's four-hit shutout lowered his team-best earned run average to 2.60. But Penn's four other starters -- Mike Greenwood, Fischer, Hayden and Ray Broome -- have ERAs of 8.10, 5.91, 11.32 and 8.18, respectively. The bullpen hasn't fared any better. Arbogast's 6.30 ERA is the best of the bunch. As a team, the Quakers have an ERA of 7.59. A number of rising stars contributed to Penn's 2-2-1 record. Sophomore third baseman Glen Ambrosius went 6-for-15 with four RBIs and four runs scored. Sophomore right fielder Russ Farscht went 4-for-13 with one home run and seven RBIs. And Corleto, in his first season as Penn's starting catcher, gunned 6-of-11 would-be base stealers. But a number of mistakes by the youngsters nearly resulted in a Columbia sweep at Bower Field. With the bases loaded with two down in the second home game and the Quakers up 6-1, Columbia's Matt Murphy rifled a shot up the middle. Penn shortstop Joe Carlon made a diving stop on the play, got up and fired to first base. But Simonian, who was playing first, thought the ball got through the infield and was positioning himself by the pitcher's mound, anticipating a cutoff from centerfield. Carlon's throw sailed into foul territory. What should have been the third out of the inning ended up costing Penn two runs on the play. And given an extra out, the Lions scored two more runs on the next at-bat. "That fundamental play? would've ended the inning," Penn assistant coach Bill Wagner said. "We could've left with a [five] run lead." The Quakers went into the bottom of the seventh that game down by one run. But Spiezio sent the the right-field line and rounded first base for the easy double. However, Spiezio failed to look up to his third-base coach, who was frantically waving him on since the Columbia right fielder had bobbled the ball in the corner. By the time Spiezio left second, the rightfielder had already picked up the bouncing ball and was sending it into second base. The relay appeared to reach third base just as Spiezio was sliding into the bag, but Spiezio was called safe. Two batters later, Spiezio scored the game-tying run on a suicide squeeze executed by Corleto. "We've got a lot of good players. It's just that a lot of the good players are new to Ivy League pressure baseball like it is here," Wagner said. Either mistake cost have easily cost the Quakers the game and resulted in a disastrous 0-2 start to the Ivy season. Instead, Penn finished its opening series with a 2-1-1 record and a huge sigh of relief.

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