A near miss for Baseball vs. La Salle

Matt Horn and Kyle Armeny both went deep, but it wasn't enough as a variety of untested pitchers couldn't hold off a pesky La Salle team.

Penn dropped its third straight game by the score of 9-8, and the losing streak comes only days before Penn leaves for its most important road trip of the season.

"We hit the ball real well, which is always a good sign," Penn captain and shortstop Evan Sobel said. "We battled; the thing about this team is we always fight to the end, even when we're down."

Despite being down for almost the entire game, the Quakers kept battling, and they came just short of getting the win.

With Penn trailing 9-7 in the bottom of the ninth, Horn bashed a solo pinch-hit home run to bring the Quakers to within one.

Then, Alex Blagojevich extended the rally, slapping a single to left field. After a pitching change for La Salle, Penn had the tying run on first, and the winning run at the plate in the team's best slugger -- Nate Moffie.

But this was not to be the Quakers day. Moffie went down looking on a questionable call. Blagojevich was running on the pitch, and he was caught stealing to end the game. But it was not the loss but home plate umpire Dave Cooper's strike call sent Penn's centerfielder into a rage.

After taking his anger out on his helmet, he voiced his dissatisfaction to the umpire, his coaches and anybody within about a 100-foot radius of the Quakers' dugout.

"I don't want to say anything about that, no comment," Penn coach Bob Seddon said on any kind of punishment the league might hand down to Moffie. "But, he's gonna get in trouble with the team."

Penn took yesterday's game as an opportunity to mix up the lineup and rest pitchers who had thrown on Monday and Tuesday or are going to be needed this weekend.

The Quakers started backups Hank Watson at catcher, James Dunning at second and Spencer Witte at first and showcased a number of pitchers not usually seen.

"We had a little disadvantage today," Seddon said. "They were able to throw some pitchers we couldn't because they've only played one game in the last five days."

Penn started little-used pitcher Michael Gibbons, who gave up five earned runs and walked three in two innings of work.

His performance was the rule, not the exception, on a day when Penn pitchers gave up nine runs.

Most notably, Joe Thornton walked four and gave up two runs in only one and two thirds innings of work.

The lone bright spot was junior Joe Wilamowski who pitched four strong innings, giving up only one earned run and striking out three.

"We didn't pitch," Seddon said. "The guys who pitched haven't pitched, but I thought Wilamowski pitched good."

Seddon was not kidding either. At one point, the Quakers put Sean Abate -- their starting first baseman, who had the day off -- on the mound. Abate demonstrated his flexibility giving up no earned runs in one and a third innings.

Offensively, however, the Quakers experienced few of the problems most of their pitchers faced, teeing off on La Salle's pitching. Penn banged out 10 hits to score their eight runs.

In the third inning, Penn showed its ability to erase deficits in a hurry. After a Jarron Smith walk, Bryan Graves knocked him in with a double down the left field line. Then, after a Spencer Witte walk, the table was set for Armeny.

And he didn't disappoint, jacking a three-run home run over the right field fence.

Armeny once again led the way offensively, hitting the three-run homer and going 3-for-4 on the afternoon, running his batting average to .333 on the season.

Only a freshman, Armeny's stellar performance at the plate has been a pleasant surprise for the Penn offense, but he is quick to dismiss himself as a star.

"I just try to be the best hitter I can be," he said. "I'm not going crazy thinking that I'm doing real well or anything, I'm just trying to do what the coaches tell me to do."

Armeny is second on the team in batting average, RBIs, and slugging percentage and is tied for first in home runs, with three.

Witte also had a good day filling in for Penn's leading hitter, Abate. He went 2-for-3 and scored two runs.

Penn will continue its marathon week -- featuring nine games in seven days -- this weekend when they travel north to take on league rivals Brown and Yale.

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