On Quiet Campus of Swarthmore, Baseball Team Proved Very Lively

The Swarthmore College baseball team this year took a chance. It dared to be good.

The last time a Swarthmore athletic team won big was in 1981 and 1982, when the football squad’s unprecedented success prompted an investigation by students and faculty. They were worried that athletics might be taking precedence over academics at the 1,300-student college in this quiet Philadelphia suburb.

Baseball Coach Ernie Prudente recalled the furor over football as his team prepared for its first appearance in the NCAA Division III playoffs on Wednesday at Montclair, N.J.

“You win too many games here and might lose your job,” said Prudente. “We get teased, told, ‘Win too many games and you’re in trouble. Better be careful.’ ”

Prudente and his team risked the wrath of academia, compiling a 26-3 record.

“It’s amazing,” said the coach. “This same team was 0-10 in the league (Middle Atlantic Conference) four years ago. This year it was 10-0.”

Of the 26 overall victories, he said, “A lot of times it takes us eight to 10 years to win that many. These kids were 2-14 as freshmen.”

Prudente, asked the secret of his success, said, “It’s nothing fancy. We played routine baseball. We just made the plays. I work on footwork and fundamentals. The rest of it is up to the guys. I’ve got the horses and I just let them run.”

Prudente doesn’t expect any investigation of this team’s success.

“Most of these fellows are campus leaders. They are involved in other campus activities not related to sports. It’s a good cross-section. In a lifetime you might not never have a better group.”

It’s not easy for Prudente to entice talented players. He recruits mostly by mail and is subject to Swarthmore’s stringent academic admission standards. He has no athletic scholarships.

Five years ago he was lucky to get some talent in the freshman class.

“There is no guarantee of what’s going to come. That year we were lucky enough to get some first-class players in,” said Prudente.

During the recent season Swarthmore had winning streaks of 10 and 12 games, at one point playing eight games in a week and winning them all.

“It was incredible for us. And we had a tough schedule. We didn’t play any patsies,” Prudente said.

In March the team went to Cocoa Beach, Fla., where it went unbeaten among a number of Northern colleges.

The way Swarthmore got to Florida was impressive.

The players made $3,500 by publishing a baseball guide, selling the ads themselves. Each player contributed $100 for the trip, and the athletic department chipped in $2,700.

Half of the team went by plane and the rest in two vans. They switched means of transportation for the trip home.

Prudente said Eddie Greene was one of the keys to the team’s success.

As a right-handed pitcher, Greene had an 8-1 record with one save and a 2.89 earned run average. As an outfielder, he hit .510 with 13 extra-base hits, 35 runs batted in and 19 stolen bases in 21 attempts.

Senior first baseman Bob Klein, who three years ago lost one finger and part of another on his throwing hand in an industrial accident, played excellent defense and hit .381 with four home runs and 42 RBIs.

Prudente praised shortstop Mark Handwerger, who hit .410, second baseman Chris Nolan, with 36 stolen bases in 41 attempts, third baseman Charles Green, a .321 hitter, and catcher John Schaefer, who hit .396 despite wearing a knee brace becuse of an operation last November.