Penn tries to answer the Bell

After picking up its first two wins of the season this weekend, the Penn baseball team will be back in action this afternoon. The Quakers host Lafayette at Murphy Field in their first game of the Liberty Bell Tournament.

The competition is a Philadelphia tradition as the familiar Big 5 schools,as well as Lafayette, Lehigh and Delaware, take the field in a single-elimination tournament. If Penn is able to reach the finals, the game will be held at Citizens Bank Park on April 13.

"The purpose is just to help expose the competition at the Division I level, especially with the schools here in Philadelphia because we do have a strong college system," said Jon Joaquin, who works in fan development for the Philadelphia Phillies and runs the tournament. "We definitely want to give them an opportunity. I think it's everybody's goal when they're playing baseball at the collegiate level to play on a Major League field."

In the past, all of the tournament's games were played at Veterans Stadium, which had artificial turf. But because the grass in the new Citizens Bank Park makes the field harder to maintain, only the finals will take place in a Major League stadium.

"It doesn't quite have the same impact as it had before when it was at the Vet," Penn coach Bob Seddon said. "Because you're only playing one game at the main ballpark, and that's what really made it attractive."

But the 2-9 Penn team is a long way away from a berth in the finals and a chance to play in a Major League park. For right now the Quakers' goals are more modest; they just want to keep up the small win streak they started last weekend when they won two games against Hartford. Also on their minds is improving their record heading into Ivy League play, which begins Friday against Columbia.

"We're hoping that tomorrow we can get a little bit of momentum for the weekend," Seddon said. "However, I think we'll be ready to play Columbia regardless of that game."

Today's foe, Lafayette (7-7), is coming off of a 2-1 series win over Mount St. Mary's -- and the Leopards are not to be taken lightly.

"Lafayette is doing really well," Seddon said. "They're 7-7, they really hit the ball, they beat us pretty good last year."

The Leopards are led by sophomore outfielder Mike Raible, who leads the team with a .410 batting average and is second with nine RBIs. Junior shortstop Ian Law leads Lafayette with 10 RBIs and is batting .392 for the young season.

The Leopards suffered a five-game losing streak in their road trip to Florida, which included losses to Boston College, Pittsburgh and Florida International. However, they have played exceedingly well outside of that streak.

The Quakers will start freshman Andy Console against the tough Lafayette lineup. Console is 0-1 on the season in three appearances with a 6.23 ERA. Penn will use three or four pitchers in the game in order to keep its hurlers fresh for the weekend.

A win against the Leopards would be a huge step towards turning around Penn's season, but the Quakers will have to play their best baseball to come out with a win today, and advance in the tournament against a tough Lafayette club.

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