Baseball | Spirits high - will run support be?

Forget Moneyball.

While baseball is largely a game of numbers, no quantitative value can be assigned to the upbeat attitude humming within the Quakers' locker room only days before the season begins Saturday against Davidson and Georgetown.

"We want to go down there and execute," junior Steve Gable, a co-captain and the team's starting second baseman, said. "For the team, it doesn't feel new. Guys aren't nervous, and they know what's going on."

On the pitching front, any conversation begins with junior co-captain Todd Roth, the pitching sensation who had the Ivy League's lowest ERA last year. Despite Roth's stellar play, he compiled only a 4-5 record due to suspect hitting throughout the batting order. That, however, doesn't keep him up at night.

"It's just about trusting what God's blessed you with and competing and trusting in those things," he said.

But Roth still can't will the team to win on his own.

"Run support's awesome," Roth said with a laugh. "I believe we have a better lineup top to bottom this year, more depth off the bench. So I definitely think we should have not as much problems scoring runs."

While Roth will likely get the nod Saturday, the team has yet to establish the rest of the pitching rotation. A number of pitchers - including returning hurlers Robbie Seymour, Paul Cusick and Reid Terry and freshman Vince Voiro - are competing to claim the other starting spots.

On the offensive side, coach John Cole is working to accrue more runs this year by teaching his lineup the concept of "pace of play". With this idea, Cole is encouraging his batters to focus on what they do best rather than molding their style of play to the opposition.

"We gotta play aggressive; we gotta attack," Cole said. "That's the key is to get them in the flow, the game, and not worry about the other team so much, just do what you do well, and get that lead so we can dictate the pace of play. It's a little like basketball. Don't let the other team dictate their pace of play."

The preseason is as much about mental preparation as it is about physical preparation. Mental toughness is especially important for the Quakers because of their youth - Penn's roster features nine freshmen and only one senior, catcher Jeff Cellucci.

"Yeah, there will be some anxiousness, some butterflies," Cole said of his inexperienced team. "I think one of the biggest things when we deal with a young team is the ability to prepare and understand mentally for games before we go. So that the first innings or the first couple of games it's not - shock - 'Oh my God it's college baseball.' No, we've already prepared for that."

Cole emphasizes that in measuring the true quality of a team's players, on-field performance is the bottom line.

"Not having played on a real field yet: That's the unknown," he said.

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