Columbia, S.C. – The University of Pennsylvania baseball team opened up their 2023 season on the road against #23 South Carolina Friday afternoon, falling by a final of 7-4.
QUAKER NOTEMEAL
* In South Carolina's sixth game of the year, Penn was the first team to hold South Carolina under 10 runs, the first team to score more than three runs, and the first team to record more than eight hits against the Gamecocks.
*
Ryan Taylor became the first freshman to start, bat leadoff, and record a hit in the season opener since Brandon Engelhardt CAS'14 in 2011.
* Starter
Owen Coady struck out five batters, his 12th career 5+ strikeout outing.
* Sophomore
Cole McGonigal recorded his first career two-hit game and stole a pair of bases.
* Making his first start in his last seven appearances, junior
Calvin Brown recorded his third career multi-hit game.
HOW IT HAPPENED
Coady took the ball for the Quakers, and worked around a 2-out double to get out of the first inning scoreless.
The Gamecocks put five on the board in the second via a three-run homer and two-run single. Penn put runners on in each of the first three innings, but couldn't push anything across.
In the top of the fifth, Brown singled up the middle, then advanced to second on a one-out walk drawn by Taylor.
Jackson Appel stepped in next and hit a potential double play ball to the shortstop, but a wide throw to second allowed Brown to score and sent Taylor to third.
Bryce Mangene took over for
Owen Coady on the mound with one out in the 5th, and went 2.1 innings, striking out three while allowing just one run.
Seth Werchan and Taylor started the Penn seventh with singles. After an Appel sac bunt, a
Wyatt Henseler RBI groundout plated Werchan. With two out and Taylor on third, Miller cut the South Carolina lead in half with a two-run shot to left-center, his eighth career home run.
Will Tobin came on in relief for Mangene in the seventh, and escaped a bases-loaded jam, inducing a two-out groundout.
The Quakers put two runners on in the eighth with one out, but, with the potential go-ahead run at the plate, stranded both.
After a solo home run pushed South Carolina's lead to 7-4 in the bottom of the eighth,
Wyatt Henseler walked to open the Quaker ninth, but that was the lone man to reach in the inning, as South Carolina closed out the win.
#QuakeShow
#FightOnPenn
