Four up, four down for Quakers

Entering the weekend, Penn baseball’s greatest flaw this season was its starting pitching.

But in two doubleheaders against Mount St. Mary’s over the weekend, the Quakers' starting pitchers dazzled, allowing just two earned runs in 27 innings of work.

That stellar effort earned Penn wins in all four of its games against the Mountaineers, with victories of 2-1 and 4-2 on Saturday and 8-0 and 6-1 on Sunday.

“I think that all four starters had great performances this weekend,” head coach John Cole said. “We were concentrating this year on throwing the ball in the zone and not walking people. If you get ahead of hitters and put the ball low, you’re going to be in the ballgame.”

Junior Paul Cusick had the most impressive outing of the weekend. The Penn hurler pitched a complete game shutout in the opening game yesterday, while yielding just three hits and two walks with ten strikeouts.

“I was able to command more than one pitch and throw my breaking ball for strikes,” he said. “I felt the most confident in my breaking ball that I’ve felt all year.”

Cusick also attributed both his personal performance and his team’s solid showing to a focus on keeping the ball low in the strike zone. However, he acknowledged that Mount St. Mary’s is not the toughest team the Quakers will face this season.

“It’s definitely a confidence booster for our staff,” Cusick said. “But at the same time, we’ve got to keep working hard and know that the teams we’re going to start facing are going to be better and better competition each week.”

Sophomore Chris McNulty also pitched a gem yesterday, allowing no runs in 7.2 innings.

“The pitching staff definitely struggled in Florida, and there was a lot of adversity,” McNulty said. “I’m really proud of how we pitched this weekend, and we’re really trying to show other teams in the Ivy League that we’re a pitching team and that we have the arms to do that.”

This weekend’s performances on the mound show a departure from last year’s subpar effort, when the team recorded an earned run average of 6.74 on the season.

The opening game on Saturday was the closest the Mountaineers would come to a victory. Starting pitcher Vince Voiro allowed just one run in the first six innings of the game, and Penn trailed 1-0 going into the seventh and final inning.

Junior Adrian Lorenzo drove in the tying run before crossing the plate for the game-winner on senior Tom Grandieri’s grounder to first.

“The seniors do a really good job of making sure that in the late innings, we’re completely confident we’re going to win the game, whether we’re up a run or down a few,” McNulty said.

Though Cole was not content with his team’s hitting, he was very impressed with the Quakers’ ability to manufacture runs.

“We didn’t swing the bats well this weekend, but we had an emphasis on the running game and the bunt game,” Cole said.

The Quakers are currently on a five-game winning streak and will face Villanova Wednesday as they continue to prepare for the Ivy season, which begins in less than two weeks.

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