Baseball | Not in our casa, 'Nova

After yesterday's game against Villanova, it seems as though depth will not be an issue for the baseball team as it heads into the Ivy League Tournament this weekend.

Sophomore Mike Mariano more-than-literally stepped up to the plate in the bottom of the fourth inning, still searching for his first hit of the season.

The catcher slammed a solo homer to left field, igniting a furious fourth-inning rally in Penn's 10-5 victory, the team's first win over Villanova since 2003. In last season's meeting, the Wildcats throttled the Red and Blue, 16-2, at Villanova Ballpark.

Mariano was being used as a designated hitter in lieu of Jeremy Maas, who is batting .532 in a part-time role as he tries to recover from Tommy John surgery.

After Mariano's dinger, Penn (10-7) took advantage of some sloppy play from the Wildacts (11-10) to pull away. Capitalizing on three walks, three wild pitches and a throwing error by Villanova shortstop Marlon Calbi, the Quakers tallied six runs in the fourth inning on just two hits.

Despite ultimately doubling up Villanova, the outcome was dubious as late as the top of the 8th inning.

The Quakers had broken open a lead as large as seven in the middle innings, but they surrendered two runs in each the seventh and eighth innings to close the gap to just three.

Then, in the bottom of the 8th, freshman James Mraz doubled off the left-field fence 365 feet away, driving in two runs.

"We hadn't beaten them in a long time so I just wanted to swing at that ball and get a run in," said Mraz, who is batting .356 on the year. "I think we definitely need to be more consistent in everything we do."

Coach John Cole echoed that sentiment, stating that the game never should have gotten as close as it did.

"That's a big hit by Mraz, and that's what we needed," he said. "We let 'em get back in the game. . You've got to put people away if you're up 7-0."

Cole indicated that he was not "pleased" with his players' "sloppy" performance despite the rare victory over the team's Big 5 rival.

"I think we took advantage of some of their mistakes," he said. "They left themselves open today by giving us a lot of opportunities. I don't think we played tremendously well."

Regardless, the team's gritty performance at the end was, to Mariano, a test of character that the Quakers passed with flying colors.

"[Last year] a lot of times you could feel people expecting to lose the close games," he said. "Even in a game like this, where we were up six, everyone would kind of expect that we might lose. And now, it's kind of a feeling that we're going to win games like this."

The Red and Blue will need to hold onto that confidence and continue to score runs in bunches if they hope to make some noise against their Ancient Eight foes in the coming weeks.

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