PHILADELPHIA - The University of Pennsylvania baseball team captured its first victory on Saturday, 7-6, in the first game of its home-opening series against UMBC.

Game two of Saturday's doubleheader was postponed to Sunday at 1 p.m. due to the loss of daylight. After play resumed in the top of the ninth inning, the Retrievers held on to claim a 4-1 win.  

Quaker Notemeal
*Gavin Degnan hit his second home run of the season and finished his day at the plate 3-for-4 with three RBIs.
 
*Senior Ryan Taylor registered the Quakers' first triple of the season in the bottom of the fifth inning, which drove in three runs for Penn.
 
*Freshman second baseman Jay Secretarski extended his hitting streak to seven straight games with a single to left field in the second inning.

*Jake Moss started on the mound for the Red and Blue and recorded five strikeouts in 6.0 innings of work, while allowing only five hits and one run.

How It Happened (Game 1)
Moss retired the Retrievers' first three batters to get Saturday's action underway. Eddie Sargent started on the bump for UMBC, and he gave up a hit to Penn co-captain Jarrett Pokrovsky before getting out of the inning by striking out Nick Spaventa.
 
Penn took a 2-0 lead in the second frame. Secretarski singled to left field to get the bats rolling, which positioned Degnan at the plate. The outfielder proceeded to hit his second homer of the season over the wall in left field to drive in the hosts' first two runs of the ballgame.

After a scoreless third inning, the visitors got on the board in the fourth. Moss sent the Retrievers' first two batters back to the dugout, but Derek Paris kept the inning alive with a single to third base. Anthony Mascuilli was then struck by a pitch, which put Paris in scoring position. Kyle Eddington then reached first on a throwing error, allowing Paris to cross home plate. Moss eventually escaped the inning by sitting down Brooks Henderson.

The Quakers had a massive fifth inning, tallying five runs to take a 7-1 lead. Spaventa led off with a single to shortstop, followed by Qwynn Ahearn and Secretarski drawing walks. Degnan was next up, and he knocked a single to center field, sending Spaventa home.

Sophomore Michael Powell then reached first on a fielder's choice, but Ahearn was thrown out at home plate. Taylor then drove in Powell, Degnan, and Secretarski with a bases-clearing triple to hand the hosts a 6-1 advantage. Nick O'Brien tacked on Penn's final run of the frame with a sac fly to center field that allowed Taylor to score.

Neither side was able to score any runs in the sixth frame, but UMBC scored three runs in the seventh. The Retrievers had two runners on base when Ehi Okojie stepped to the plate. His home run to right center drove in Chris Harber and Dylan Melton to reduce the visitors' deficit to three runs (7-4).

UMBC scored a run in both the eighth and ninth innings, but sophomore reliever Connor Darling earned the save by allowing only two hits down the stretch.

Penn advanced to 1-6 on the season with Saturday's victory, while UMBC fell to 3-5.

How it Happened (Game 2)
Penn's starting pitcher Marty Coyne and UMBC's Zach Robinson highlighted game two with a pitchers duel in the early going. Coyne struck out the first two batters he faced, and Robinson followed suit with two strikeouts of his own to end the first inning.

Coyne got back to work in the second frame with a strikeout on Okojie, before he retired Danny Wyatt and Danny Orr to send the hosts to the plate. Robinson surrendered a leadoff single to Ernie Echevarria but made his way out of the inning with a ground out to second base and two strikeouts.

Neither pitcher allowed a hit in the third, fourth or fifth innings, but UMBC scored two runs in the sixth.

Eddington made his way to first after being hit by a pitch and quickly advanced to second on a throwing error by the pitcher. With one out, Jesiah Carpenter stepped to the plate and his sac fly to center field allowed Eddington to score. Mascuilli then ripped a double to right field and crossed home plate thanks to an RBI double from Melton.

UMBC tacked on its third run in the seventh inning when Sergio Droz pounded an RBI single. Penn had three runners on base with two outs in the bottom of the frame, but Gavin Collins' groundout to third base sent the action to the eighth.

The Retrievers made it a 4-0 ballgame courtesy of an RBI single to left field by Paris, which saw Melton cross home plate.

Penn notched its first run of the game in the bottom of the eighth inning. Spaventa made his way to first on a walk and soon advanced to second on a wild pitch. Facing two outs, Degnan stepped to the plate with work to do. The Lakehurst, N.J. native proceeded to rip an RBI double to left field that reduced the Red and Blue's deficit to three runs (4-1).

Junior right-hander Andrew Miehe took over on the hill to begin the ninth inning and didn't allow a hit to give the Quakers a chance with one last at-bat.

Chris Harbert relieved Robinson in the bottom of the ninth frame and guided UMBC to its fourth victory by not allowing a hit in crunch time.

Up Next
The Quakers return to Tommy Lasorda Field at Meiklejohn Stadium at 1 p.m. on Sunday to wrap up the series with UMBC.
 
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