Baseball tries new twist on playing two

After a 3 p.m. game against Temple, Penn will rush to Veterans Stadium for a night cap with Villanova. When the Liberty Bell Tournament schedule was released months after the Penn Baseball schedule had been set, both the Quakers and Villanova thought that it was an April Fool's Day joke. After scheduling a non-conference game with cross-town rival Temple (3-7) for today at 3 p.m., imagine the shock Penn baseball coach Bob Seddon must have experienced upon learning that the Quakers (7-7-1, 4-0 Ivy League) were scheduled to face Villanova (10-7) tonight in the annual Liberty Bell Tournament, which features eight of the area's college baseball teams. The second game of this unique doubleheader will be played at Veterans Stadium at 7 p.m. "Since we had an early game and Villanova had a game in the afternoon against Georgetown, also at 3 p.m., it seemed natural to pair us up in the evening," Seddon said. "We didn't play Villanova last year, so we don't really know them that well," he added. The Quakers are coming off their most successful weekend of the season, posting four convincing wins over Columbia by a combined score of 49-10. Most pleasing to the Penn coaching staff was the combination of solid pitching and continued success at the plate. Having played so many innings Saturday and Sunday, the Quakers are going to rely on contributions from other key members of the pitching staff in the 18 total innings being played today. "I'm not going to stretch anybody really long," Penn pitching coach Bill Wagner said. "I want to get them all in the game if I can. If they perform well they can go two to three innings max." Several regular starters are unable to pitch today due to their participation this past weekend. Included in this list is senior ace Armen Simonian, who leads the team with a 2.28 ERA, sophomore Sean McDonald, who picked up a win Saturday, and freshmen Matt Hepler and Ron Rolph. "Ray Broome and [senior Todd] Mahoney will probably start pitching the two games," Wagner said. "I want to put Mahoney on the mound just to give him a couple of innings because he hasn't been on the mound with that tender arm." Broome has already made four appearances so far this season. In two starts, he has yet to record a win or a loss, but has 14 strikeouts in his 15 innings. Mahoney has two losses in three appearances. "When you're not in there for a long time it can be tough to find a rhythm because you're out so quickly," Broome said. With the starters only sticking around for a couple of innings each, Wagner and Seddon are likely to go deep into the pitching rotation, opening the door for players like sophomores Anthony Napolitano and John Dolan and freshmen Duff Blair, Nicholas Barnhorst and Adam Corleto, brother of senior catcher David Corleto. "We are going to pitch a lot of people who haven't done a lot of pitching, and it's an opportunity to give kids a chance to step up," Seddon said. "We still haven't really established our pitching staff." Heading into today's games, the Quakers are firing on all cylinders in the batter's box. As a team, the Quakers are hitting .309 and are scoring more than nine runs per game. The superb effort at the plate is led by senior centerfielder Drew Corradini, who is currently batting .431. Additionally, this week's Ivy League Player of the Week, senior shortstop Joe Carlon, is hitting .365 with five home runs, and the elder Corleto hit over .538 this weekend. "We have a lot of good hitters, one through nine," Corleto said. "Not everyone hit this weekend, but we had some guys that really stepped it up for the guys that weren't hitting as much as they usually do. We were patient, waiting for good pitches to hit, and when we got them, we took advantage." Defensively, Seddon plans on trying a variety of players at different positions. There may be a change at third base, seeing as junior Shawn Spezio has been struggling offensively. "We'll be using a couple of different kids at third base; Corleto may not catch both games. And in the outfield, we'll use some other kids," Seddon said. "Trent Nagata needs to play, [Kevin] McCabe needs to play a little bit more and [Kevin] Johnson needs to play a little more." In the first game, Temple hosts the Quakers in North Philadelphia. Led by sophomore outfielder Craig Munroe, who is hitting .358 with five home runs, and senior catcher Peter Moore, the Owls have some offensive punch. However, what they have offensively they lack defensively. Their team ERA is a meager 7.76, and not one pitcher has an individual ERA below 5.30 or a winning record. Upon concluding the game at Temple, the Quakers will bus down to the Vet, hopefully arriving by 7 p.m., where they will meet the Villanova Wildcats, a considerably stronger team from a difficult conference, the Big East. Sophomore pitcher Brian Manning boasts a team-low 1.56 ERA and is undefeated in four appearances, while junior Dan Boublis is 2-1 in five starts with 30 strikeouts. Boublis is also the team's most potent offensive threat, with a .423 average and 18 RBI. Equally dangerous are senior Rick Welsh and freshman Nick Piantek, who have combined for 34 RBI in the heart of the order. "It's just another game for us, but we got rained out of four games against Wagner, so tomorrow takes on a little more importance because we want to win and play another game [in the tournament]," Corleto said.

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