Baseball | Habitual Hoyas haunt Penn again

Some things, like gin and tonic or Beyonce and Jay-Z, are just meant to be together. An amicable relationship between Penn and Georgetown's baseball teams isn't one of them.

Having already faced the Hoyas twice in their season opener last weekend, the Quakers will play them four additional times this weekend at Rollins College, as Penn heads down to Winter Park, Fla., for spring break where it will face the Georgetown, Maine and Rollins squads.

Teams don't typically get this intimate with one another. Georgetown and Penn's six early matchups are a "freak coincidence," coach John Cole said.

The familiarity between Penn (1-1) and Georgetown (2-4) creates a unique atmosphere, one in which recent history between a pitcher and a batter must be carefully studied and utilized.

"The guys are gonna know what's coming so you gotta start switching it up," starting pitcher Todd Roth (0-1) said. "I've gotta dig a little deeper in the pitching repertoire and go at different pitches at different times."

Last week against Georgetown, Roth surrendered an uncharacteristic eight runs (four earned) in a 14-3 rout. He concedes that this may give more confidence to the Hoyas' lineup, so he has made adjustments to prepare for the second round.

As for who receives the greater benefit out of the tremendous familiarity: "I'd probably say advantage to the batters," he said.

Although Penn is accustomed to Georgetown's lineup and rotation, the scouting report on Maine (4-4) and Rollins (10-6) is hardly a mystery to the Red and Blue. Rollins, for one, has already played 16 games and is a known quantity. While this certainly allows Penn to know what to expect from Rollins, it also means that the Quakers will face a team that has played 13 more games due to its Sun Belt location.

Besides its relative advantage in experience, Rollins presents a unique set of challenges, chief among them a team batting average of .339. Their ability to play "small ball" and accumulate bloop hits is responsible for such a strong average, not to mention great overall team speed. However, Cole believes that this could play right into the Quakers' hands.

"They don't have huge power numbers, and I like that," he said. "Controlling the running game is something we do a good job of. So facing a slap team, a speed team, I'm a little bit more comfortable than facing a team with a lot of power because I think we can contain that team a little better with our pitching."

While pitching to contact could be advantageous against Rollins, Maine's lineup may present the perfect storm for such a strategy. Not only is Maine known as a powerhouse of strong hitters who make a living swinging for the fences, many of them are lefties - a strategic nightmare considering Penn's dearth of southpaws.

"It's a critical aspect when you don't have a lot of left-handed pitching," Cole said. "You can leave yourself open if you let those left-handed hitters roll up with guys on base and you don't make good pitches, you could be in trouble."

- Sports Editor Noah Rosenstein contributed reporting to this article.

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