Columbia
Penn
Baseball Knocks Off Penn Twice
4/29/2016 7:22:00 PM | Baseball
| Line Score | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | R | H | E |
| Columbia | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 4 | 6 | 1 |
| Penn | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | x | 2 | 7 | 1 |
| Pitching | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO | |
| Abrams (W, 1-1) | 5.0 | 7 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 7 |
| Egly (S, 4) | 2.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Individual Leaders | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| AB | R | H | RBI | BB | HR | |
| Kanemaru | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 0 |
| Paller | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 0 |
PHILADELPHIA – The Columbia baseball team received strong pitching and some timely hitting to take a pair of games at Penn Friday. The Lions (16-23, 9-9) took game one, 4-2, and won the nightcap, 3-1.
Despite the victories, Columbia was knocked out of contention for its fourth straight Gehrig Division title with two Princeton (12-6 in Ivy League play) wins at Cornell earlier in the day.
The Lions will wrap up the 2016 season with a twinbill against the Quakers Sunday for Senior Day. Game one is slated for a 1 p.m. start.
Columbia stranded 10 runners in the first five innings as Penn's starting pitcher, Jake Cousins was struggling with control. Cousins walked eight batters, but was able to get strikeouts when he needed it to get out of jams.
On the other side, Ethan Abrams had dynamite control and his curve ball was keeping hitters off balance all day. The first-year righty threw four scoreless frames before surrendering two runs in the fifth. Abrams finished with a career-high seven strikeouts with no walks.
Abrams worked out of trouble in the first inning with a crafty pickoff move. With runners on corners with one out, he faked to third and threw to first and caught the baserunner leaning towards second. Abrams' got ahead of the next batter and his breaking ball hit the inside corner for strike three to get out of jam.
It was Cousins' turn to work his way out of trouble in the bottom of the third. With one out and Robb Paller on third, Maguire skied a fly ball to right that was caught by Matt Greskoff, who made a perfect throw home to nail Paller at the plate and retire the side.
The teams combined to strand six baserunners until the Quakers broke through in the bottom of
Penn's Sean Phelan dropped a bunt to third to start things off and Matt McGeagh doubled to put runners on second and third. Gary Tesch grounded out to short to bring in the run from third. Abrams almost held the Quakers to just the one run, but with two outs, Matt O'Neill doubled off the wall to extend the advantage to 2-0.
The Lions ended five innings of frustration in the top of the sixth. John Kinne walked, followed by a single off the glove of the Penn second baseman from Shane Adams. With two outs, Will Savage doubled in front of the leftfielder to cut the deficit in half. Paller was intentionally walked to set up a force play and Kanemaru made Penn pay with a two-run hit to left-center.
After a pitching change, Nick Maguire singled through the hole between first and second to plate Paller and make it 4-2.
Harrisen Egly came out of the bullpen and allowed just one baserunner in two innings to pick up his fourth save of the year and ninth of his career.
| Line Score | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E |
| Columbia | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 5 | 0 |
| Penn | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 8 | 0 |
| Pitching | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO | |
| Cline | 3.0 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Bahm (W, 1-1) | 3.0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 |
| Thanopoulos (S, 1) | 3.0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| Individual Leaders | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| AB | R | H | RBI | BB | HR | |
| Paller | 3 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 |
| Boyher | 3 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
Penn threatened in the bottom of the first with two infield singles sandwiched with a passed ball to put runners on the corners with one out. The Quakers tried to run a safety squeeze, but the bunt came right to a charging Adam Cline from the mound, who flipped it to Boyher for an easy tag at home.
In the bottom of the third, a leadoff double and a ground out put McGeagh on third with one out. O'Neill chopped one to John Kinne and the third baseman fired home for another play at the plate and another out. However, Cline tripped on his delivery with O'Neill on first to push him into scoring position. Tim Graul followed with a single to give the Quakers a 1-0 cushion.
Columbia leapfrogged Penn in the top of the sixth with one swing of the bat. Will Savage led the inning off with a walk to set up a monster two-run blast from Paller to make it 2-1 in favor of the Lions.
Paller drove in an insurance run in the eighth, knocking in Savage from second on a single and that would be enough.
Zack Bahm and George Thanopoulos teamed up for six innings of shutout ball out of the bullpen. Bahm earned the win and Thanopoulos picked up a nine-out save, his first of the year.
