PROVIDENCE, R.I. – The bats went quiet as the University of Pennsylvania baseball team fell to Brown, 4-1, in the opening contest of a three-game series at Attanasio Family Field at Murray Stadium.
Ryan Taylor was responsible for Penn's sole run, going yard in the top of the third inning. Brown's starter Santhosh Gottam pitched his first career complete game.
The loss drops Penn (20-17, 12-7 Ivy) a game and a half out of first place in the Ivy League standings while Brown improves to 10-27 on the year with a 6-13 Ivy record.
Quaker Notemeal
*Today marks the first time since 2019 that the Quakers fell to the Bears, having won their previous nine games.
*Penn's offense tied for the least amount of runs (1) and hits (4) in single game this season, doing so on two other occasions.
*Taylor's long ball was the third of the season and his first since the Liberty Bell Classic against Saint Joseph's (March 25). He's the seventh Penn batter with three-plus homers on the season.
*Despite picking up the loss, Penn starter
Noah Millikan (0-3) had one of the best outings of his collegiate career. He pitched the most innings (8.0) and struck out the second-most batters in a single outing at six.
*
Connor Chavez is the only Quaker to reach base safely more than once, going 1-for-3 with a walk.
How It Happened
Both teams went hitless through the first two frames. It looked as though that would carry into the bottom of the third inning as Brown retired the first two batters. The ninth hitter, Taylor, saw the first pitch and ripped it over the left field wall to give the Red and Blue the 1-0 lead.
The lead would be short-lived as Brown responded in the bottom half of the inning. Jare Johnson opened things up with a leadoff double. After advancing to third on a balk, he scored on a groundout the next play. The Bears kept the pressure on with a runner on second and two outs, but Chavez made the difficult play from second base to keep the game knotted at 1-1.
After a three-up, three-down fourth inning from both teams, Brown tacked on another run in the bottom of the fifth. Two batters singled to set up runners on the corners with one out. Logan Meusy successfully executed the sacrifice bunt to bring home the man from third base.
Brown added two more insurance runs in the bottom of the seventh to make it 4-1. Following a leadoff double, Johnson doubled himself. Meusy then drove in Johnson for his second RBI of the afternoon.
Penn recorded just two hits from the third to seventh innings but had an opportunity to cut the deficit in the top of the eighth.
Nick Spaventa started off the inning with a single. He advanced to second on the following play but couldn't score as the next two batters struck out.
The Quakers went 1-2-3 in the ninth inning with two strikeouts to end the game.
Up Next
The Red and Blue will wrap up their regular season tomorrow with a doubleheader at Brown starting at 11:30 a.m. Both games will be streamed live on ESPN+ with live stats provided.
For the latest on Penn baseball, follow @PennBaseball on X (formerly Twitter), @Penn_Baseball on Instagram, and on the web at PennAthletics.com.
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