Junior pitcher Ryan Dromboski embraces teammate Nate Polo before a game against UVA on May 31.
Credit: Weining DingYear in and year out, Penn baseball once again starts hot in the Ivy League
To open up Ivy League play, Penn dominated Harvard in a three-game series. Penn ended the series holding the third-longest winning streak in NCAA baseball while Harvard continued its early season struggles. Despite a deflating loss to St. Joes after the series, the sweep bodes well for a team that saw a raucous start to the season.
Both the top of the first and second were 1-2-3 innings for Harvard (1-16). It looked like Penn (8-10) would fall into the same trap until sophomore catcher Qwynn Ahearn hit a single for the first Red and Blue hit of the series. Junior outfielder Jarrett Pokrovsky follows with a double, which goes to waste with Ahearn getting thrown out at home.
The second was nearly another 1-2-3 for senior pitcher Noah Millikan before Harvard infielder Tyler Shulman singled for Harvard’s first hit. Then, after more hits by the Crimson, infielder Gio Colasante put Harvard up 2-0.
The Quakers began the bottom of the fourth with two outs, but sophomore infielder Nick Spaventa’s single kept them alive. Sophomore outfielder Gavin Collins followed suit with a double, allowing Spaventa to score, bringing the score to 2-1. A few innings later, Collins again answered the call to tie the game at 2.
After junior pitcher Thomas Shurtleff got into a jam by hitting a batter, an error allowed Harvard’s Jack Rickheim to score and put the Crimson ahead 3-2.
“Baseball, you have to have a short memory,” Collins said. “If one bad thing happens, obviously you can’t let that affect your next pitcher or your next play … have trust in your ability to play the game.”
The Red and Blue only allow two hits in ninth, none scoring. Continuing this momentum, Ahearn led off the ninth with a double, then Ruggeri pitch ran for him. Pokrovsky’s groundout allowed Ruggeri to advance to third and then tied the game, 3-3. In extra innings, Harvard took a 4-3 lead before a trio of hits from senior infielder Connor Chavez, junior outfielder Ryan Taylor, and junior infielder Davis Baker tied it 4-4 and junior Jarrett Pokrovsky notched a walk-off single, giving Penn a 5-4 come-from-behind win.
“We were down twice, came back and won it,” coach John Yurkow said. “I thought we did a good job fighting through some adversity. … but I was proud of the way the guys battled back to get that first win.”
The Quakers did not have to sweat the series’ second game. With hot bats and freshman pitcher Sebastian Haggard commanding the mound, the Red and Blue opened an early 4-0 lead. Though the Crimson drew within two runs, the Quakers’ young hitting core generated timely hits to the tune of a 6-3 win.
With the series in hand, the Quakers eyed a sweep in the final game. After a back-and-forth beginning, the Red and Blue broke the game open in the bottom of the seventh. Baker reached on a hit-by-pitch, Pokrovsky hit a single, and Collins walked, loading the bases. A horde of Quakers reached home plate to end the day, bringing home a 14-4 win.
“We struggled a little bit early on playing good teams, but we’ve kind of found our spark,” Collins said about the rest of the season. “We’re playing good defense, less errors. … They’re starting to embrace that and just have more confidence.”
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