Penn baseball stays busy with summer ball

The college season might be over, but the game doesn’t stop just because it’s summer for members of Penn baseball.  

After finishing last season 23-18 and 11-10 in Ivy League play, the Quakers are working to build off of that success, playing summer ball throughout the country. 

Arguably Penn’s best returning hitter, infielder Eduardo Malinowski, will spend the summer playing for the Harwich Mariners of the Cape Cod Baseball League. For the Quakers, Malinowski hit .354 with five triples and four home runs. Playing in the well-renowned CCBL, Malinowski will have the chance to add to his skill and even improve upon those numbers in his junior season.  

Fellow star, Craig Larsen, will stay close by as well, taking his talents to the Ocean Gulls of the Atlantic Collegiate Baseball League. Larsen was Penn’s RBI leader last season, and he finished second on the team in runs-scored.  

While Malinowski and Larsen will stay in the Northeast to work on their game, teammates Josh Hood and Joe Miller will head south to play for the Asheboro Copperheads in North Carolina. The Copperheads are fortunate, as both players were key contributors for the Quakers last season. Hood, as a freshman, finished second on the team in RBI and first in home runs, and fellow freshman Miller appeared in 13 games as a pitcher, posting a 4-1 record as a starter. 

Another set of teammates, both of whom were also freshmen last season, will play together this summer. Pitcher Kevin Eaise lead the team in appearances, and outfielder Tommy Courtney hit .316, starting every game. Both players will receive the chance to improve even further playing for the Sag Harbor Whalers of the Hamptons Collegiate Baseball League. 

The trend of Penn players teaming up over the summer continues with Seth DeVries and Andrew Hernandez playing for the Riverhead Tomcats, Jackson Petersen and Kyle Cronk for the Pittsfield Suns, and Peter Matt and Dylan Mulvihill for the Wisconsin Rapids Rafters. DeVries, Hernandez, Cronk, and Peterson all played reserve roles for the Quakers and will be looking to expand their responsibilities and opportunities next season. Far from a reserve was Matt, who earned First-Team All-Ivy distinction as an outfielder who led the Ivy League in triples. His summer ball teammate and fellow rising senior Mulvihill was a useful relief pitcher for Penn.

Perhaps Penn’s biggest stars were in the starting pitching rotation. Rising senior Mitchell Holcomb, playing this summer for the Gastonia Grizzlies, posted a 6-1 record and a 3.76 ERA. That record was only matched by one player in the Ivy League, teammate Christian Scafidi. In his junior season, Scafidi established himself as one of the best players in the conference. He was an unanimous First-Team All-Ivy selection and was named Ivy League Pitcher of the Year on the strength of his 6-1 record and 2.62 ERA. This summer, he’ll pitch for the Vermont Mountaineers. 

Considering just how busy the Penn players will be this summer, a 2020 Ivy title could be in the cards.