PHILADELPHIA — Penn pushed its Ivy League win streak to four games, sweeping Cornell in Saturday's doubleheader at Tommy Lasorda Field at Meiklejohn Stadium for its fourth and fifth straight victories, 7-3 and 14-5.
The Quakers (13-15, 7-4 Ivy League) extended their win streak over Cornell (6-19, 4-7 Ivy League) to seven games, the longest win streak posted by Penn over the Big Red since an eight-game span between April 14, 2001, and April 26, 2003.
GAME ONE RECAP
A resilient fifth-inning rally carried Penn to a 7-3 victory over Cornell in the opener of Saturday's doubleheader at Meiklejohn Stadium.
The Quakers scored four runs in the fifth — three unearned — to erase a two-run deficit before adding three more in the seventh, punctuated by a two-out, two-run home run by Gavin Collins. Marty Coyne locked things down from there, retiring the final seven Big Red batters he faced to earn his fourth win of the season.
Cornell opened the scoring in the top of the first when junior third baseman
Luke Johnson led off with a single, swiped second and advanced to third on a wild pitch before scoring on a sacrifice fly by senior center fielder
Caden Wildman, who finished the game with two RBI.
The Big Red doubled its advantage in the second with a two-out rally ignited by sophomore left fielder
Tyler Beaulieu, who doubled down the left-field line and reached third on a second wild pitch by Penn starter Connor Darling. With sophomore first baseman
Jayden Shin aboard via walk, Johnson singled up the middle to score Beaulieu and push Cornell's lead to 2-0.
Junior left-handed pitcher
Huxley Holcombe punctuated a strong opening to his start with a milestone moment to end the second inning, striking out Penn designated hitter Nick Guachione on an outside breaking ball to become the 46th Cornell pitcher since 1947 to reach 100 career strikeouts.
The fifth inning unraveled in costly fashion as Holcombe issued five free passes — four walks and a hit batter — and the Quakers sent 10 men to the plate. Penn scored four times in the inning while registering just one hit to turn a 2-0 deficit into a 4-2 advantage.
Cornell clawed back in the seventh when Wildman hit an RBI single to score Hager and trim the deficit to 4-3.
The Quakers answered immediately as an RBI bloop single by Ernie Echevarria dropped into no-man's land in left-center, plating Jarrett Pokrovsky to make it 5-3. Collins followed with a two-out, two-run home run to left to push the lead to 7-3, effectively putting the game out of reach.
Employing an opener strategy, Darling worked the first two-plus innings before Coyne, the reigning Ivy League Pitcher of the Week, took over. Coyne tossed seven innings of relief, allowing one run on four hits while striking out seven.
Holcombe took the loss, dropping to 1-5 on the year after allowing four runs (one earned) on four hits in 4 2/3 innings with four walks and five strikeouts.
GAME TWO RECAP
Cornell could not dig itself out of an early hole in the nightcap, falling 14-5 to Penn as a six-run first inning proved too much to overcome.
The Big Red trailed 9-1 after two innings and 12-1 after four, with junior right-handed pitcher
Ethan Van Sice chased after just one-third of an inning and freshman right-handed pitcher
Michael Tight couldn't contain the Quakers in the next 2 2/3 innings.
Senior center fielder
Caden Wildman gave Cornell a first-inning lead for the second time on the day with an RBI double to the left-center gap, but Penn answered with six runs (three unearned) in the bottom half on a two-run Jay Secretarski home run, a pair of errors by junior shortstop
Kevin Hager and an RBI double by Ernie Echevarria. The Quakers swiped five bases in the inning alone.
The deficit grew to 9-1 after two before the Quakers added three more in the fourth to push their unanswered runs to 12.
Also deploying the opener strategy in the nightcap, Penn's Ben Moulin worked the first three innings before handing the ball to Jake Moss, who held Cornell to six hits and four runs (one earned) over the final six frames. Moss issued three walks and struck out seven to earn the victory.
Junior left-handed pitcher
Andrew Houghton provided some stability out of the bullpen, working four innings and allowing two earned runs. Freshman right-hander
Alex Stoyer needed just three pitches to set Penn down in order in the eighth.
Cornell's best offensive stretch came in the sixth, when four runs on three hits and two walks trimmed the deficit to 12-5. Hager capped the rally with an RBI single.
Hower finished 3-for-5, the first three-hit game of his career. Wildman went 2-for-5 with a double and an RBI, while Hager added two hits and drove in a run. Van Sice took the loss, yielding six runs (three earned) on four hits in one-third of an inning.
GAME NOTES
• Penn increased its lead in the all-time series over Cornell to 172-129-2 and improved to 89-57-2 all-time in Philadelphia against the Big Red.
• With his strikeout to end the second inning, Holcombe became the 46th Cornell pitcher since 1947 to reach the century mark and the third active Big Red hurler to reach the threshold, joining senior right-handed pitcher
Carson Mayfield (139) and senior left-handed pitcher
Noah Keller (115).
• Holcombe is the 18th pitcher since 1947 to reach 100-plus strikeouts by his junior season and the eighth to do so this century, joining Chris Schutt (2003), Rocky Collis (2005), Blake Hamilton (2006), Brent Jones (2014), Michael Byrne (2015) and Mayfield and Keller (both 2025).
• Carlson extended his on-base streak to 11 games after drawing a one-out walk in the opener, but failed to reach base safely in the nightcap.
• Barela's three-hit game in the opener was his fourth game this season with at least three hits, joining three-hit outings at Richmond (March 1) and VMI (March 15) and a five-hit performance at Fordham (March 8).
• Hower's three hits in the nightcap were his most in a single game this season, besting six previous two-hit performances.
• Houghton struck out three batters across his career-high four-inning outing, while matching his season high for punchouts from his March 30 outing against Harvard.
LOOKING ON DECK
Cornell will look to avoid being swept in an Ivy League series for the first time this season when it returns to Tommy Lasorda Field at Meiklejohn Stadium on Sunday. First pitch is scheduled for 1 p.m., with game action streamed on ESPN+.
Senior right-handed pitcher
Ethan Hamill (0-2, 6.18 ERA) is scheduled to toe the slab for the Big Red, going up against Penn right-hander Nick Newburn (0-1, 6.14 ERA).
