PHILADELPHIA – Senior Dale Wickham hit a three-run home run in the seventh inning, then drove in the eventual winning run in the eighth inning after a sly base-running play by senior Ryan Krainz to help the baseball team to a 7-6 win against Penn on Sunday at Meiklejohn Stadium.
 
Wickham homered for a fourth consecutive game, wrapping up the series 7-for-11 with three home runs and eight RBI. The team's primary designated hitter has shot up his batting average 100 percentage points by smacking 12 hits in just the last five games.
 
To win its first Ivy League series of the season, Cornell (8-17-1, 4-8) needed to rally from a 5-0 hole after six shutout innings from Penn (12-21-1, 6-8-1) starter Mitchell Holcomb. A pair of freshmen got the rally started with singles to lead off the seventh – first from Jason Apostle and then from the pinch-hitting Kalani Matton – to bring up the top of the order.
 
A fielder's choice put runners on the corners with one out, then senior Kyle Gallagher pulled a single into left to plate Apostle for the first run.
The scorching-hot Wickham then laced a ball over the wall in right, and the Big Red suddenly clawed back to within a run at 5-4.
 
Sophomore Andrew Ellison was then summed from the bullpen, quickly setting down Penn 1-2-3 after the stretch to put Cornell back on the attack. Walks from freshmen Kaleb Lepper and Matt Collins, and Lepper's steal of third put runners on the corners with one out to set the stage for a wild couple of plays.
 
The Big Red called for a safety squeeze from Krainz that caught the Quakers by surprise. His bunt past the pitcher's left was so good that it not only comfortably plated Lepper with the tying run, it also allowed Krainz to leg out an infield hit. On the very next pitch, Gallagher connected for his third single of the day to left field. Collins was waved around third to score the go-ahead run as the relay throw was cut off by the third baseman and Krainz pulled into second.
 
But the play wasn't over.
 
Penn's third baseman walked slowly back toward the mound to meet his pitcher, but never gave him the ball and nobody on the infield called for time. Krainz alertly dashed for third before the bewildered defense could recover. The extra base proved pivotal, as it allowed Krainz to push the score to 7-5 when he scored on Wickham's sacrifice fly to center – Wickham's fourth RBI of the day.
 
Ellison found trouble in the bottom of the eighth with the bases loaded and one out – but true to form, he minimized the damage. One run scored on a groundout, but Ellison left the go-ahead run stranded in scoring position with a strikeout. He then set down the side in order in the ninth for his second victory of the year.
 
The Big Red returns to action at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, when it visits Binghamton for a non-league game before next weekend's Ivy League series against Harvard.