Baseball's Italiano looking for revenge

Last March at the Liberty Bell Tournament, Penn second baseman Nick Italiano lit up Saint Joseph's with a triple and a home run.

Despite accounting for four of the Quakers' runs, the effort was in vain as the Hawks won, 13-6.

Today, Penn is out for revenge.

"Last year, we were really young, and guys were still getting their feet wet," said Italiano, now the Quakers' senior captain. "Now we're ready to play for every game.

"Whenever you can get the revenge factor going, that's a good reason to win."

The Red and Blue (2-6) will travel to St. Joe's at 3 p.m. to engage a struggling team. The Hawks are 1-8 with a team batting average of .192.

After Mike Walls and Joe DiNubile, who boast .345 and .333 averages, St. Joe's offensive firepower falls off dramatically.

Compounded with a St. Joe pitching rotation that has a collective ERA of 10.38, the game has the makings of a Penn victory.

But Italiano insists it's not that easy.

"I'd like to say it's a foregone conclusion," he said. "But you never know.

"It's a crazy game and you never know what's going to happen."

Italiano added that when a team plays a superior opponent, it can't expect to have gaudy statistics.

Such is the case for the Hawks, who earlier played against juggernauts Tulane and Florida State. They lost three to the then-No. 23 Green Wave and a pair to the No. 2 Seminoles.

The Quakers have had early-season struggles of their own.

Tomorrow will be the Red and Blue's first game since returning from the Pepsi/Johnny Quik Classic in Fresno, Calif.

"I feel like we played some good teams in California," Italiano said. "I'm not upset at our record.

"I think we have some momentum, but we definitely need to win some games [before] going into the Ivy League season."

Penn has seven games before its first Ancient Eight opponent Columbia.

If this season is anything like 2002, expect the Quakers to improve quickly. Last season, the Red and Blue started 4-16 before mounting a late-season charge.

The Quakers won 13 of their final 18 games to finish the year in second place, behind Princeton, for the Gehrig Division title of the Ivy League.

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