In their second series of Ivy League play, Penn baseball took one game out of three on this weekend’s road trip to Dartmouth, ending the weekend on a high note with a win.
After sweeping Harvard in their first three-game set of the year, the Quakers (9-12, 4-2 Ivy) looked to keep rolling in New Hampshire, facing a Dartmouth (2-14, 2-4 Ivy) who entered the weekend winless.
Senior pitcher Noah Millikan got the ball to start game one, but the Big Green jumped all over him — going up 3-1 after the first inning. Junior second baseman Davis Baker led the charge offensively for Penn out of the leadoff spot, recording three hits, including an inside-the-park home run, and scoring each time he reached base.
After falling behind 6-2, the Quakers stormed back to make the score 6-5 thanks to a strong fifth inning. Dartmouth added two more, but Penn would not roll over.
Down 8-5 with two outs in the ninth, sophomore catcher Qwynn Ahearn was down to the final strike but drew a walk to keep the Quakers alive and load the bases, bringing up the go-ahead run. The next two batters walked as well, bringing up Baker again with his team losing by a run. In his sixth plate appearance, Baker was unable to continue his success, flying out to end the game with a Penn loss.
“Sometimes you just get outplayed,” junior outfielder Jarrett Pokrovsky said. “And that’s what we did. We waited just a little too long for that spark to get the runners on and start moving them around, putting good at bats together, and that came back to bite us.”
In game two of Friday’s doubleheader, the Quakers again found themselves trailing before the first inning ended when Dartmouth infielder Elliot Krewson hit a two-run home run to start off the scoring.
Again, Penn was dug into a deep hole, trailing 4-0 before Davis smacked an RBI double and Pokrovsky smashed a solo home run — his third of the season. In hitting .317 with 10 doubles, Pokrovsky has already tied his career high — and is continuing a career-defining season.
“This year, especially coming off the injury, it made me think a lot less about results and just going out there and having fun and playing. ... That definitely has an impact on the way I’ve been swinging it,” Pokrovsky said.
Pokrovsky’s power was not enough to drive the Quakers to a victory, though, as the offense fell flat after the home run. Dartmouth added one more to the scoreboard, clinching the series win with a 5-2 victory.
Entering Saturday’s game, Penn was 3-2 in Ivy play. Senior pitcher Will Tobin got the start on the mound, looking to salvage the final game of the weekend.
“Me and the rest of the captains talked about…four and two is a lot different than three and three,” Tobin said. “So it was just kind of doing my part.”
Tobin did his part and then some, putting together his best performance of the year so far. With seven innings of one-run ball, he put the Quakers in position to come out of the weekend above .500.
The biggest difference between Saturday’s game and the prior two was in the offensive attack. Penn jumped out to an early lead, scoring in the top of the first and giving Tobin a lead before he even stepped onto the mound.
“[Scoring first] is huge. Even one run, you just know you already have some momentum going, the other team’s already on their heels,” Tobin said. “Any type of lead … opens you up to just pitch a little more freely, you don’t feel like you’re working from behind or have to be perfect.”
Tobin was nearly perfect, but the offense needed to score more than one to come home with a win.
With the game tied at one in the sixth, sophomore outfielder Gavin Collins came through to give the Quakers a lead they would never relinquish. Behind sophomore infielder Nick O’Brien’s three-hit performance in his lone start of the series, Penn finished the weekend with a 5-1 win, making the bus ride back much sweeter.
“You can’t really control if your name is going to be written on that lineup card, and when it does, you just have to always be ready and be prepared,” O’Brien said. “You have to trust all of the hard work that we put in, in the offseason and practice, and just go out there and play the game I’ve been playing my whole life.”
The Quakers look to build on their momentum from Saturday’s win. They will face Lafayette on Tuesday before resuming Ivy play this weekend with a three-game set at home against Princeton.
“Princeton’s pretty good,” O’Brien said, “so we’ll have to come to play.”
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