Brawl ball highlights Ivy sweep

The Penn men's baseball team used its bats to sweep four games from Columbia. "This is the only place you see [boisterous fan support] around the league -- and I'll tell you, it's great, because that's what home-field advantage is. These guys are on the edge of their seats, and we just want to give them a a good game, a good show and have some fun ourselves." Drew Corradini and the Penn baseball team helped give the Bower Field fans a good show yesterday-- completely dominating Columbia, 14-4 and 11-2. Those two wins capped a weekend in which the Quakers took all four games from the Lions, winning 13-2 and 11-2 -- outscoring Columbia 49-10 on the weekend. Not 15 minutes after Corradini made the above statement, however, a post-game scuffle involving players, coaches, parents and students erupted near the Bower Field gates. Several Red and Blue fans -- who had been seen drinking -- had been heckling the Columbia players throughout the day, including uttering several ethnic and homophobic slurs. Indeed, things deteriorated to such a point that the umpire had Penn assistant coach Bill Wagner warn fans not to throw objects onto the field after Columbia first baseman Andrew Pisano was hit with a projectile while tracking a foul ball. The heated brouhaha broke out after the doubleheader, when Columbia players heading toward Franklin Field to shower crossed paths with Penn fans, players and parents trying to leave Bower Field. According to several eyewitnesses, Columbia parents instigated the incident by yelling at the Penn students. Someone got shoved in the crowd, prompting Columbia pitcher Dan Brunello -- who had been singled out by the fans after getting shelled in the first game -- to jump in and try to prevent an altercation. Brunello was immediately restrained by Penn captain Joe Carlon. Several other players from both teams jumped into the scuffle, all trying to hold each other back. Coaches from both sides also jumped into the fracas, but ended up in the same role as the players -- as trying to settle things down only led to more heated tempers. In fact, Penn coach Bob Seddon was shoved in the back by the mother of a Columbia player. During the tussle, several Columbia parents complained about the lack of security, prompting an Athletic Department employee to call Penn University Police. It took police more than seven minutes to arrive at the scene, however, and the crowd had long since dispersed. The brawl was a sour ending to a great day of baseball, and Seddon said it was a "shame it had to end that way." Indeed it was. Penn put together four consecutive games of nearly perfect baseball to sweep Columbia in the Quakers' (7-7-1, 4-0 Ivy League) conference opener. "We hit the cover off the ball all weekend; we did almost everything right. We hit, we ran the bases, we played defense, we got good pitching," Seddon said. Saturday, Armen Simonian and Sean McDonald both went the distance, allowing just two runs each. Yesterday, two freshmen led the way, as Ron Rolph pitched four solid innings to pick up a win and Matt Hepler went six strong innings in the nightcap. "They threw strikes and that's the key," Penn catcher Dave Corleto said. "That's the big thing -- throwing strikes. That's all we need to do, because we're going to put runs on the board." Defensively, the Quakers made just three errors all weekend, even with younger players getting several innings of playing time in the late innings of yesterday's games. It was Penn's bats, however, that were the story. The Quakers smacked eight homers on the weekend, including three by Carlon. In the bottom of the third inning of yesterday's opener, junior Glen Ambrosius and designated hitter Mark Nagata hit back-to-back homers off Brunello. Thanks to this weekend, the Quakers team batting average rose 52 points to .309. Penn stole 12 bases, including six by Corradini and five by Ambrosius. "In Florida, teams ran blind against us. Now, we're running blind. If they're not holding us on at second, then we will steal third. If Corradini's there, Carlon's there, Ambrosius is there, they're gone," Seddon said. This weekend also marked the fact that Penn has finally settled on a starting lineup, with Shawn Spezio winning the starting spot at third and Kevin Johnson earning the rightfield spot when Simonian is pitching. The only spot that is potentially shaky is the third starting pitcher. For the second straight game, Ray Broome could only throw a fastball in for a strike, as he walked five batters in just three innings. In addition, he lobbed a bunted ball to first base, which allowed Columbia third baseman Gerard Galella to reach safely. "He had trouble throwing the ball all day. He had one pitch he could throw for a strike, and you can't win with only that," Seddon said. "Rolph is a freshman who we want to develop. Hepler is a freshman we want to develop, so you might as well go with them. I don't want to totally blow him out, but he's struggling." Bower Field resembled a dust bowl yesterday, as the team's new $3,000 sprinkler system, installed to wet the infield dirt, has yet to be turned on up-campus. The blowing dirt, however, was not nearly as disruptive as the Penn fans, whose heckling caused Galella to throw a practice grounder into the vocal section of fans. "I guess we won't be drinking here anymore," said one Penn fan on his way out of the stadium.

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