Baseball | Maas-ive power surge leads Quakers to five wins over break

A year ago, on Penn's spring break trip to Florida, Jeremy Maas was learning the ropes as a rookie pitcher. He was getting on-the-job experience, adjusting to the speed of the college game and trying to win a spot in the Quakers' rotation.

But this time around, Penn's trip to the Sunshine State gave the sophomore an opportunity to deliver some harsh lessons of his own. In the lineup, primarily as a designated hitter, he hit .513 with ten extra-base hits and a pair of home runs for the week.

Maas' power helped the Quakers to their first five-win spring break since 2000. The Red and Blue took four out of five games from Georgetown, split its two contests with host Rollins and dropped a pair to Maine.

But for Maas, the trip meant a bit more. After undergoing Tommy John surgery in the offseason, he started to do more work on his swing and moved from the mound to the outfield and designated hitter.

"It's been tough," Maas said. "It [was] like 'You might not be able to play baseball again,' and all of a sudden you're like 'Oh, I can hit now - cool.'"

Maas led an offensively-charged weekend for the Quakers (6-5), who averaged just under nine runs per game. And it was Maas who came through in the clutch for Penn during its 11-10 victory over Rollins last Wednesday.

With the score knotted at 10 in the bottom of the eighth, freshman right fielder James Mraz led off the inning with a single.

A sacrifice bunt and a groundout later, Mraz had advanced to third. After a Tom Grandieri walk, Maas lashed a single through the left side, plating the go-ahead run.

"He's got some physical strength, he's got some quickness," Penn coach John Cole said of Maas. "He's got a chance to be National Player of the Week in Division I."

But for all of the Quakers' success at the plate, there were some serious deficiencies from the pitching staff.

Five freshmen saw some time on the mound, but only Trey Jennings, who gave up just two earned runs in 8 1/3 innings, was especially effective. And junior Todd Roth, the team's ace, amassed an earned run average of 10.8 on the week.

While the staff's performance was a concern, the fast turf on Rollins' Seminick-Hall Field was certainly a contributing factor.

"The quickness of the fields disrupts your defense," Cole said. "When your defense isn't playing up to par and the balls are getting through, it's gonna beat up your pitching staff a little more than it shows."

Despite the success it had, Penn came out of the weekend feeling a little shortchanged.

But, as Cole knows, with a team as young as his, that might not be the worst thing in the world.

"We felt like we could have got two more [wins] to be honest," he said. "That means you're learning how to win, and that's a positive."

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