Club baseball drops four in last regular season warm-up

While most students were leaving State College for a week of relaxation, the Penn State club baseball team took a spring break of its own.

Twenty of the 24 members of the club team traveled to Florida to participate in the Gulf Coast Classic Baseball Tournament, held at Gulf Coast Community College. As a warm-up before their regular season, they ended up with a 1-4-1 record.

"The pitchers were surprising, since they hadn't thrown much in the preseason," he said. "When our pitching was strong, we did well."

One of those strong performances was a win against St. Francis, in which junior Bill Abbott pitched a complete game. He gave up only five hits and struck out four in the game. The other, a 3-3 tie versus Marion, was cut short due to time constraints. Freshman John Stefens pitched seven innings, giving up only two earned runs while striking out three.

On the offensive side, senior first baseman Travis Hill and sophomore catcher Jason Sekerak led the charge. Both batted over .400 for the series and led the team in hits. Hill also led the team in RBIs with three.

"We really showed that we can play at a Div. III level," said freshman second baseman Lyle Yablonsky.

Not everything went rosy for the Lions, though. The second game of the season was a 10-4 loss to Charleston. Twice they were shut out, 10-0 to West Virginia Tech and 12-0 to Southeastern Illinois. Before the series was over they lost again to West Virginia Tech by a score of 7-2.

The team returns to action this Sunday against Montgomery County Community College at Beaver Field. The game is at home, which should be to the team's advantage after a long road trip.