Spring has finally arrived in Philadelphia, bringing with it warm weather, hot bats, and a whole lot of scoring. Despite windy conditions, both Cornell and Penn baseball could not be cooled off as they lit up the scoreboard over the weekend.
In the end, Cornell outpaced Penn, winning the series 2-1 in what proved to be an exciting back-and-forth affair. The Red and Blue (14-17, 6-6 Ivy) entered the series hoping to get back into the win column. However, defense and pitching proved to be the Achilles heel for a struggling Penn team.
On Saturday, the Big Red (10-13, 8-4 Ivy) put the Quakers on notice, opening the doubleheader by driving in four runs in the first inning. In the ensuing innings, Penn would respond with a flurry of runs of their own, notching six runs in four innings to take a two-run lead.
Senior third baseman Wyatt Henseler homered to deep center, bringing his tally to an Ivy League-leading 15 home runs on the season. Henseler is the all-time leader in home runs for both Penn and the Ivy League at 47 homeruns, and his latest shot extended a Quaker lead that would ultimately hold with the Quakers winning the opener by a score of 6-5.
Later in the series, Henseler also recorded his 200th career hit, becoming the third player in Penn program history to reach that mark.
“[It’s] super gratifying, [and I’m] grateful for all that,” Henseler said of the achievement. “At the end of the day, we didn’t come out on top, and that’s always going to be what’s really in the front of my mind. Wherever I can help this team win is where my priority is going to be. The hits come along with that a little bit sometimes.”
During the second game of the doubleheader, both teams continued to pile on runs in the first few innings. On the mound for the Quakers was junior right-handed pitcher Ryan Dromboski, who was the Ivy Pitcher of the Year in 2023. But this season has been an entirely different story, as Dromboski has yet to record a win. That streak persisted on Saturday as the Quakers became entangled in a shootout with which they could not keep up.
In the seventh and eighth innings, Cornell’s Caden Wildman hit back-to-back grand slams, plummeting the Quakers into a 13-run hole. In the end, the 18-9 defeat marked the most runs the Quakers have surrendered in a game this season.
“It’s just a matter of guys making pitches in certain counts. When you get a guy 0-2, the advantage is really supposed to swing to the pitcher,” coach John Yurkow said. “I just feel like we haven’t been executing enough pitches and that’s what it’s really come down to.”
On the final match day, it was evident that the Red and Blue would have to match Cornell’s firepower. Once again, scoring came in barrages and waves. Cornell jumped out to an early lead of 4-0 behind a home run by Cornell’s Kevin Hager. The Quakers answered right back with a few runs of their own, chipping away at the lead to make it 4-3.
“In all those big innings, it’s been a lot of self-inflicted mistakes. It was hit by pitches, its walks, we didn’t handle the ball well in the infield,” Yurkow said. “We had some guys 0-2 and hung some pitches and made some mistakes and they made us pay.”
After an early scoring drought, during the sixth inning Cornell’s Luke Johnson drove in a run on a check swing that dribbled down the right field line. The Quakers then strung together a series of walks and hit-by-pitches to get batters on base, which hurt the Quakers mightily.
“We just can’t stay away from the big innings on defense. You look at it- four runs, three runs, four runs,” Yurkow said. “We just need to do a better job minimizing and keeping some of those innings to one or two runs and you probably come out on top today.”
A bright spot in the Quakers’ game continued to be their hitting, as a six-run onslaught in the sixth inning pushed the Quakers to their first lead of the day. This lead was short-lived, however, as Cornell scored four runs in the eighth inning to retake the lead — making the final score 11-9.
“It’s just like the old saying: if nothing changes, nothing changes,” Yurkow said. “[We’ve] got to get to a point now where we start making some corrections on defense and just eliminate self-inflicted mistakes.”
This week, the Quakers play host to Saint Joseph’s on Tuesday, in a game that was rescheduled due to inclement weather. As the weather warms up, the Quakers hope it will trigger a much-needed spark.
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