Baseball opens up its season 0-for-spring break

It's never good to lose eight games in a row, especially when they are the first eight games of the season.

The Penn baseball team (0-8) couldn't pull out even one victory against the tough competition in sunny California, as they finished in last place during last week's Pepsi/Johnny Quik Classic. The Quakers lost to Monmouth and Southern Utah twice and once each to Gonzaga, San Francisco, Fresno State and Dallas Baptist.

"Hopefully we will get something out of the experience of playing at that kind of level," Penn coach Bob Seddon said. "Hopefully playing that competition will help us in the future. Not that a lot of the competition we play will be a lot less, because our league is strong."

And it can only get better from here.

It seemed that nothing went right for the Quakers, who gave up big inning after big inning en route to their last place finish.

But Seddon was quick to point out the positives of the trip.

"We didn't play badly by any means, but we didn't put everything together," he said. "When we pitched well, we didn't hit, when we hit a little bit, we didn't pitch well."

Penn outfielder Nate Moffie showed once again why he's Penn's most dangerous offensive threat, hitting two home runs and batting .353, but the rest of the team was simply unable to hit with men in scoring position.

"Moffie had a very good trip. He was consistent," Seddon said. "He should have made the all-tournament team, but probably didn't because we didn't win a game."

The Quakers were competitive in all of their games, but could not hold on for a win. They made a habit of holding teams scoreless for the majority of the game and then giving up big four or five run innings.

Locked in a scoreless tie with San Francisco in the fifth inning, the Quakers' erratic pitching allowed the Dons to pick up six runs on their way to a 7-0 shutout. The loss was characteristic for the Quakers, who were in contention in every game until at least the fifth inning.

Penn's top pitcher was Bill Kirk, who threw a gem in a 4-1 Penn loss to Gonzaga. Perhaps Penn's best pitcher, closer Brian Winings made only one appearance, as nagging injuries continued to keep him off the mound. Freshmen Nick Francona and Steven Schwartz each made brief appearances and showed how good the pitching staff has a chance of being later this year and down the road.

Despite the eight losses, the Quakers' season has just begun. The trip marked the first time they had even played outside, due to cold weather at Penn, and they were playing against teams that had played up to 15 games.

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