PHILADELPHIA – The top-seeded University of Pennsylvania baseball team opened the inaugural Ivy League Tournament with a 10-6 victory over fourth-seeded Columbia Friday afternoon at Tommy Lasorda Field at Meiklejohn Stadium.
Now victors of six straight games, the Quakers improve to 30-14 overall and are set to take on second-seeded Harvard in the winner's bracket Saturday at 3 p.m. after the Crimson took down third-seeded Princeton, 3-2, earlier in the day.
Quaker Notemeal
*Penn notched its 30th win of the season, becoming the first Ivy program since Harvard in 1997 and 1998 to win 30+ games in back-to-back seasons, following last year's program-record 33-win campaign.
* The Quakers have beaten Columbia four times in the last six days following last weekend's sweep that clinched the Ivy regular season title for Ivy League Coach of the Year
John Yurkow and company.
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Wyatt Henseler finished 2-for-5 with two runs and four RBI. The two-time first team All-Ivy selection has homered in three of his last four games and five of his last seven.
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Jarrett Pokrovsky finished 3-for-5 with a run scored. In the four games against Columbia, the honorable mention All-Ivy has hit .368 (7-for-19) with a home run, five RBI, and six runs scored.
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Ryan Taylor finished with a run scored and two RBI, notching his first multi-hit effort in his last 12 games dating back to April 15 against Brown.
How It Happened
After
Owen Coady was pulled after facing just three batters due to injury,
Brian Zeldin came in and got the final out of the first inning, stranding two Lions.
Cole Palis led off the bottom half of the first with a single to center field. After
Jackson Appel flied out to center, Henseler came up and drilled a moonshot over the left-field wall, his 17th home run of the season, to give the Quakers a 2-0 lead.
Ben Miller walked, while
Davis Baker laced a single to left field and
Ryan Taylor worked a four-pitch walk. The next batter,
Seth Werchan, ripped a two-run double up the middle to extend Penn's lead to 4-0.
Columbia got its first two batters of the second inning on base, but a fielder's choice and a 6-4-3 double play turned by the Penn defense got the Quakers out of the jam.
Penn took a 5-0 lead after Miller went opposite field, ripping a single to right field to drive in Henseler, who had reached via a fielder's choice.
Zeldin continued to settle in during the fourth inning, striking out the side in order. Columbia got on the board in the top half of the fifth inning, as Jack Kail grounded into a double play, scoring Skye Selinsky from third, cutting the Quakers' lead to 5-1.
The Lions made it a 5-2 game in the top of the sixth, with Andy Blake scoring on a sacrifice line-out. Penn retired the side on an acrobatic throw from Palis to Miller.
With two gone in the bottom of the sixth, Henseler gave the Quakers more insurance, driving in a pair with a double down the left-field line to push the Penn lead to 7-2.
Eli Trop came in to pitch the seventh, striking out a pair to retire the Columbia side.
Penn started its half of the seventh with back-to-back knocks from Baker and Pokrovsky. Taylor drove in the pair with a double that bounced up against the left center field wall, extending the lead to 9-2. The Quakers added another on Appel's sacrifice fly to center field, bringing home Taylor to take a 10-2 edge.
The Lions scored to open the ninth inning, as Selinsky singled in Anton Lazits, lowering the deficit to 10-3. After
Tommy Delany struck out two batters swinging, he surrendered a three-run homer to Cole Hage, making in a 10-6 ballgame.
Coming onto the mound in relief of Delany,
Carson Ozmer struck out Blake swinging to end the threat and secure the Penn victory.
Up Next
The Quakers take on Harvard Saturday at 3 p.m. in the winner's bracket of the Ivy League Tournament, the winner advancing to the championship round on Sunday.
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