Baseball hopeful in league opener

For coach Bob Seddon and the Penn baseball team, today begins a whole new season.

"We're 0-0," Seddon said. "And everyone else [in the Ivy League] is 0-0 also."

The Quakers (4-12, 0-0 Ivy League) travel to Princeton today for the first of four contests against Ivy League rival Princeton (4-11, 0-0). The pair of doubleheaders is the first action this year in the Lou Gehrig division.

The Quakers are hopeful about the Ivy League season, despite the way they have started the year.

Errors, pitching and defense have plagued the Quakers so far this year, as they have lost two straight and eight of nine, including a 13-6 decision to St. Joseph's on Wednesday at Veterans Stadium in the Liberty Bell Classic.

In that contest, the Quakers an equal number of runs and hits, finishing the evening with eight of each.

But Seddon did not think that the turf at the Vet --ÿfamous for its lackluster quality -- had anything to do with those errors. Rather, he blamed the Quakers' inconsistency in throwing the ball.

"It wasn't the turf at all," Seddon said. "I mean, the first play of the game, we had a bad throw for an error. It was more our throwing."

If they wants to beat Princeton on Saturday, the Red and Blue will have to improve their pitching. In addition to being rocked for 13 runs on Wednesday, Penn pitching has given up an average of 10.3 runs during the last nine contests.

On Wednesday, Penn tied the contest at six going into the fifth, but the Hawks scored the last seven runs.

"The game was 6-6 in the fifth, then we didn't score another run," Penn's longtime coach said. "We just couldn't keep pitchers in."

The outlook for the twin doubleheaders this weekend is, however, bright for the Quakers, as the Tigers are not playing so well either. Although they sport a two-game winning streak -- with both wins over William and Mary -- before that, Princeton had lost eight straight.

"Princeton is no world beaters," Seddon said.

The coach appears to be right on the mark there. Although the Tigers have a top-quality talent in shortstop Pat Boron, after that the Tigers are a young squad that appears to be looking for answers.

Last season, the Tigers won the pair of doubleheaders against Penn, 3-1, but they graduated most of their position players from last year's team.

For the Quakers, Nick Italiano has been a bright spot so far this season. Italiano is batting .407 and had a home run at the Vet on Wednesday.

The Quakers will start Andrew McCreery in today's first game. McCreery has a slight leg injury and was a little stiff in today's practice, but Seddon said he feels he will be alright. After McCreery, Dan Fitzgerald will pitch the nightcap. Tomorrow, Mark Lacerenza and Ben Krantz are slated to pitch.

Yesterday, the Quakers had a tough practice despite the fact they are playing two doubleheaders in two days. But, Seddon felt they needed the practice --ÿand he felt his team responded.

"If you watched our practice today, the full infield that we took, all the baserunning we did... we really had a good workout," he said. "It was maybe our best workout of the year."

Seddon said he felt that his team would be able to improve and that no less than a split would be acceptable for the Red and Blue this weekend.

"I'm no that concerned about the past," he said. "We feel that our team is not playing as well as they should play. They're not aggressive.

"They need something positive to happen. That will come with success."

Hopefully for the Quakers, that success will come against Princeton this weekend.

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