15 questions with… Tommy Courtney, a Penn baseball senior

The Penn baseball seniors are turning their last dance into a memorable one, as the Quakers currently stand at a great spot to aim for an Ivy League title. Among those seniors is Tommy Courtney, a former high school football captain, and now an essential player of Penn's outfield who's batted .339 at the plate so far this season. We asked Courtney 15 questions about his sport, his time at Penn, and what his plans are for after his time with the Quakers.

1. Hi Tommy, could you briefly introduce yourself?

I’m a Senior from Mahopac, N.Y., majoring in political science here at Penn.

2. When did you start playing baseball?

As long as I can remember … probably [at age] 4.

3. What is your favorite baseball team?

Yankees for sure.

4. What is your favorite sport outside of baseball? Any team in particular?

I’m a big football guy, I would say. I played football growing up and was close to playing football in college. I’m a big Giants fan.

5. How did you fare through the pandemic cancellations?

It was tough, we did the best we could. I did a lot of weight training and speed training, and just general training. But, baseball-wise, it was tough. [We did] any kind of cage work we could outside … when I was at home, I did some stuff with some local athletes trying to stay sharp.

6. What is your favorite part about playing baseball for Penn?

Just being able to go out and play with some of my best friends. I’ve made some good friends over here, we’ve got a real tight-knit group of guys, and it’s been just really fun being able to play with them these past couple of years. A lot of these guys make it worth it, and I appreciate being able to play with them every day.

7. Penn is one of the best teams in the Ivy League at the moment. What will be the key to chasing that title?

Just not straying from what we do. All of us have our role, and we stay within ourselves and compete, which is a big part of our success. I think if we just stay the course and stay locked into what we've been doing and what we’re capable of, everything will take care of itself.

8. Anybody on the team you’d like to shout out? Maybe any seniors?

The seniors are awesome. We have a real tight-knit group, we have a bunch of guys we are really close with: Craig Larsen, Kevin [Eaise], Joe [Miller]. Andrew Hernandez has been a little banged up, but he still shows up to work every day. I’m sure he’ll be back as soon as he can. We have a transfer senior, Sam Bennet, who pitched really well for us so far this year. We’ve got a really good group of older guys, which kind of sets the tone and helps the group of young guys.

9. What is your favorite movie?

Gladiator with Russell Crowe, that’s what I go with.

10. What is your favorite song?

Probably “From Austin” by Zach Bryan. I’m a big country music [fan], country music all the way.

11. What are your post-graduation plans?

Just because of the pandemic and the extra year of eligibility that we got, I’m going to play another year of college baseball. I’m going to graduate school at the University of Virginia. It’s a good opportunity and should be fun. I haven’t decided [what I want to study] yet … maybe public administration or athletic administration.

12. What is your favorite non-baseball activity?

This might be strange, but I really like playing tennis. I like tennis a lot, or pickup basketball probably. But yeah, something along those lines.

13. What is one thing you will miss about Penn?

Definitely the guys here. We’ve been through a lot, and we’ve become a pretty tight-knit group, so I’ll miss them for sure.

14. How will you look back on your time at Penn?

Definitely fondly, definitely good memories. Like I said, there have been some ups and downs, but I really enjoyed my time here. I love Philadelphia, it’s been a really fun place to go to school. It went quick, really quick, I’ll say that.

15. What is one thing you’ve learned in your time at Penn?

There [are] going to be ups and downs for sure, and if you stay the course, things work out … not letting your highs get too high and lows get too low and keep an even head. That’s been my takeaway from the time with the pandemic and my time here so far.