PHILADELPHIA – The University of Pennsylvania baseball team walked off Cornell on Sunday at Tommy Lasorda Field at Meiklejohn Stadium via a single through the left side from junior first baseman Nick Spaventa in the bottom of the ninth inning. Senior co-captain Thomas Shurtleff threw six shutout frames and registered a career-high seven strikeouts in the win.

Penn now holds a 14-15 overall record, and it jumped to 8-4 in Ivy League play with the series sweep.
 
Quaker Notemeal
*The Quakers stole a season-high 10 bases in Game 3 against the Big Red, which proved to be crucial down the stretch.
 
*Junior outfielder Gavin Degnan paced the Red and Blue at the dish on Sunday, tallying two hits.

*Freshman infielder Jay Secretarski led Penn with two RBIs via a sac fly and a single to left field in the seventh inning.
 
*Spaventa (1), Jack Warner (1) and Ernie Echevarria (1) round out the Quakers' hitters who registered a hit on Sunday.

*Shurtleff had a career day on the bump, finishing with seven strikeouts, four hits, and one walk allowed in six innings of work.
 
How It Happened
Both teams scored a run in the first inning and Cornell got the action started with a leadoff single from Luke Johnson. The third baseman proceeded to steal second and third and made his way home on Owen Carlson's groundout to first base.  
 
Senior Ryan Taylor drew a leadoff walk for the hosts and advanced to third with back-to-back stolen bags. Secretarski tied the contest with an RBI sac fly to right field that let Taylor coast to home plate.

The Big Red tacked on two more runs in the second frame on two hits. Johnson earned a free pass to first base on a walk with the bases loaded to make it a 2-1 ballgame. Their third run was batted in on a fielder's choice from Kevin Hager that scored Jayden Shin after previously reaching on a walk.

Penn battled back with a run of its own in the bottom half of the inning, which was driven in on a sac fly from Echevarria.
 
Cornell took a 5-2 lead in the third inning on three hits. Caden Wildman got the bats rolling with a leadoff single to right-center field and was quickly driven in by TJ Swidorski's RBI single through the right side. Shin then grounded out to second base, but Jake Hower easily scored as he was only 90 feet from home plate.  

Shurtleff and Cornell starter Ethan Hamill began to dominate as the action entered the fourth inning. The duo kept each other's offense off the board in the fourth and fifth frames, until John Hegarty took over on the mound for the Big Red in the sixth inning. Over the three scoreless innings, Shurtleff notched four strikeouts en route to his career-high seven Ks.
 
The Quakers made it a two-score ballgame (5-3) in the seventh inning and it began with two free passes for Echevarria and Nick O'Brien on a walk and a hit-by-pitch. Following Taylor reaching on a fielder's choice, which advanced Echevarria to third, Secretarski ripped a single to left field, allowing Echevarria to make it home just before the throw was made.

A scoreless eighth frame left the door open for a walk-off finish in the ninth. Shurtleff allowed two hits in the top half of the inning but recovered nicely to retire Wildman and Hower.

Echevarria started the bottom of the ninth with a leadoff double down the left-field line and pinch hitter Connor McCabe walked to put runners on the corners for the hosts. Nick Guachione came in to pinch run for McCabe and the visitors loaded the bases with another walk during Taylor's at-bat. Reliever Max Foster struggled to maintain control as Secretarski stepped to the plate and Echevarria dashed home on a wild pitch to make it a 5-4 contest.

Taylor and Guachione proceeded to swipe second and third base with a double steal, which ended up being crucial over the next two at-bats. The tying run was driven in by senior co-captain Jarrett Pokrovsky via a sac fly to right field.

With two outs, Spaventa walked to the batter's box with the winning run stationed at third base. The reigning Ivy League Player of the Week won the game for Penn in style with a walk-off single through the left side of the infield that allowed Taylor to cruise home.

Following the series sweep, the Quakers sit in third place in the Ivy League standings and are on a six-game winning streak.

Up Next
The Red and Blue now gear up for a four-game road stint, which begins with a midweek matchup at 3 p.m. on Wednesday at Monmouth. Penn travels to Princeton next weekend for a three-game set to continue Ancient Eight action.
 
For the latest on Penn baseball, follow @PennBaseball on X (formerly Twitter), @Penn_Baseball on Instagram, and on the web at PennAthletics.com.