Baseball | McNulty wired for starting role

When Penn faces Lehigh this afternoon in a doubleheader in Bethlehem, Pa., they will be playing, to borrow the title from Michael Shaara's classic baseball novel, for love of the game.

But not exactly for the reasons Shaara wrote.

Indeed, the Quakers (13-22, 2-14 Ivy) simply don't have much else to play for with the postseason so far in the rearview mirror. After starting the season 10-7 versus non-Ivy opponents, it took the Quakers nine tries against Ivy teams to get their first conference 'W.'

Lehigh (9-32-1), meanwhile, has had struggles of its own, having lost more than 76 percent of its games. The Mountain Hawks have been struggling both at the plate and on the mound. Their team batting average is .261 and their pitching staff's earned run average is 6.82.

As with any typical midweek matchup, the game will likely feature a wide variety of pitchers on both sides. Teams often employ pitching-by-committee during midweek games in order to preserve their starting pitching for the weekend - particularly in a nonconference game like this one.

"Coach [John Cole] told us pitchers to have all hands on deck," said freshman southpaw Chris McNulty, who pitched a shutout against Princeton last weekend and was named Big Five Pitcher of the Week for his play.

Nonetheless, Princeton won the other three games against Penn last weekend, thereby eliminating Penn from any possibility of postseason play.

McNulty was recently promoted to the starting rotation. His first outing was against Delaware March 31, in which he pitched well until the sixth inning.

He invoked another nautical metaphor to describe that outing: "I guess in the Delaware game [it was] just a lack of confidence being in uncharted waters being in the sixth inning of the game," he said. "I'm used to pitching only one inning of the game, so being in the sixth inning was something I hadn't done since high school."

The Quakers are hoping that McNulty will, in the future, captain their team into calmer waters.

"It's gotten to the point where I really, really enjoy catching for him," said sophomore catcher Mike Mariano, who is usually the backstop when McNulty pitches.

"We're definitely good friends off the field," McNulty said. "He knows how to control me on the mound, he knows when my stuff's getting weak. Against Cornell, for example, he came out in the sixth inning and told me 'I know that you're stuff's getting a little weak, but you need to get through your cuts,' and that really stood out, the catcher coming out there and taking control. . It's definitely welcome having his leadership around the plate."

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