The Penn men's baseball team did something last night it had never done before.
The Quakers won a game in the Liberty Bell Classic at Philadelphia's Veterans Stadium.
In what was a pitching duel for the first eight innings, Penn (8-6) exploded in the eighth to finish off Lehigh, 4-0, and earn its sixth straight win.
"It was the first time we went down to the Vet in a while, and to have a shutout win was great," Penn coach Bob Seddon said.
With the win the Quakers will get to advance in the tournament and play Temple at the Vet April 1.
Penn pitcher Dan Finkelstein earned his first career win. In three innings of work, the sophomore gave up four hits and struck out three batters.
"I just wanted to throw strikes and get ahead," Finkelstein said of his goals for the game. "I wasn't hitting my spots as well as I wanted to. As the game went on, I just tried to hit my spots better."
The Quakers jumped out to an third inning 1-0 lead in the bottom of the third off sophomore Nate Moffie's line drive into center field. Moffie's blast got past Lehigh's outstretched second baseman Brian Cameron. The base hit brought home Penn shortstop Steve Glass.
Penn maintained its 1-0 lead into the bottom of the eighth before coming out of its defensive shells and almost batting through the order -- eight Penn players came to bat in the eighth inning alone.
Senior second baseman Nick Italiano -- the third batter of the inning -- laid a bunt down the third base line that advanced Moffie and Glass to second and third respectively. After Italiano's bunt the Engineers chose to intentionally walk senior first baseman Adam McCreery and load the bases.
Lehigh gave McCreery a free trip to first so that the Engineers' southpaw Jack Lyons would be able to face a fellow lefty in Penn's Kasey Adler.
Adler entered last night's game batting a stellar .562 in the Red and Blue's five games since returning from Fresno, Calif.
His impressive hitting continued against the Engineers, as he went 2-4, including a shot to center field that bounced in the midst of three Lehigh players.
Adler's base hit drove in the second run for the Quakers. Penn would add two more before the Engineers could retire side with Penn ahead, 4-0.
While the Quakers came to life in the eighth inning, their defense was what propelled them to victory.
"Our pitching and our defense is why we're winning right now," Seddon said. "To get those three hits in the eighth -- those clutch hits were great. With the way we've been playing, we don't want it to rain right now."
Italiano echoed Seddon's thoughts.
"I thought it was obviously a pitcher's duel, and I think our pitchers pitched great. They really did a great job," he said.
As the Quakers have already lost three of their starters for the rest of the season, they were forced to look for help from some of their younger players.
Freshman Coba Canales started the game in center field, while fellow rookie Josiah Brand filled in at third for the Red and Blue.
"I think the freshman stepped up unbelievably. Losing three key players like we have could have been something that forced us to roll over and die," Italiano said. "I think that everyone on the team is stepping up. Everybody knows their role, and we are working really hard. That's what we're doing -- we're coming together as a team."
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