PHILADELPHIA – The University of Pennsylvania baseball team went to extra innings for the second consecutive game, again on the losing side of 3-2 final against Rutgers Tuesday afternoon at Tommy Lasorda Field at Meiklejohn Stadium.
 
The Quakers fall to 1-9 on the year while the Scarlet Knights improve to 7-9.
 
Quaker Notemeal
*Penn has dropped its first two home games to begin a full season for the first time since against Lehigh on March 23, 2002.
 
*The Quakers went to extra innings for the second straight game, the first time since 2018. That year, Penn played Dartmouth in back-to-back free baseball games and then went to Villanova and played 11 on April 4.
 
*Davis Baker led the offensive charge with a 3-for-4 afternoon. He also walked once and stole a base.
 
*Jarrett Pokrovsky (1-for-4) and Nick Spaventa (1-for-3) drove in both of Penn's runs.
 
*Thomas Shurtleff (0-2) picked up his second loss of the year after allowing one run on two hits with a strikeout.
 
*Josh Katz, Andrew Miehe, and Tommy Delany all threw scoreless innings.
 
*Penn recorded three errors in the field for the second time this season. The Quakers' defense has committed at least one error in nine of 10 games so far this year.
 
How It Happened
Penn starter Josh Katz and Rutgers starter Jack Kirchner were dealing to begin the game, keeping both teams off the scoreboard for the first three innings. Katz tossed 2.1 innings of scoreless ball with three strikeouts before being lifted for Aidan von Zuben in the third. The Scarlet Knights broke through in the runs column first with a single through the right side for JT Thompson, taking a 1-0 lead.
 
Penn scored its only runs in the sixth inning to take the lead, using an RBI single from Jarrett Pokrovsky and a sacrifice fly from Nick Spaventa that scored Ryan Taylor, giving the Quakers a 2-1 advantage. John Cerwinski nearly got himself into a jam in the top of the seventh inning when he took over for Andrew Miehe. He allowed runners on the corners before getting Trevor Cohen to foul out and struck Peyton Bonds out looking to close the frame. Rutgers tied the game in the top of the eighth with a solo homer to right field, but Cerwinski retired the side in order after that.
 
Both teams played into extra innings, when JD Jones pulled off the suicide squeeze bunt in the top of the 11th, scoring Thompson to give the Scarlet Knights a 3-2 lead.
 
Cole McGonigal singled to right field with one out in the bottom of the inning, stealing second to get into scoring position for Caden Fahy, who flew out to center field. Working a seven-pitch at-bat, Connor Chavez grounded out to end the contest as Rutgers came away with the 3-2 win.
 
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