NEW HAVEN, Conn. -- The Columbia baseball team (2) defeated Penn (3), 4-3, in the first round of the Ivy League Tournament on Friday evening.
Anton Lazits was the hero, crushing a walk-off RBI double in the bottom of the 10th inning.
The Lions earned a crucial win to move to the winner's bracket on the strength of clutch hitting and strong pitching. With the win, Columbia will take on Harvard tomorrow at 4 p.m. and move one step closer to earning a NCAA Regional berth.
After Joe Sheets worked a one-two-three first, Columbia opened the scoring with three runs in the bottom half of the frame. All with two outs, Cole Fellows and Jack Kail record run-scoring singles, and Fellows came around to score after he and Kail executed a first and third play on the basepaths perfectly.
In the top of the third, Penn would answer back with three runs of its own. Gavin Degnan doubled down the right field line and Davis Baker lofted a two-run single to left to tie the game. From that point on, great pitching and defense by both sides held the Lion and Quaker offense scoreless until the tenth inning.
With two outs in the bottom of the tenth, Sam Miller lined a single to left. Griffin Palfrey followed Miller by drawing a two-out walk. Then, with a 1-1 count, Lazits belted a run-scoring double into the left field corner to propel the Lions to the walk-off victory.
This win marked Columbia's third walk-off win of the season and its first postseason walk-off win since 2022 when the Lions defeated Gonzaga in the Blacksburg NCAA Regional hosted by Virginia Tech. The win also marked Head Coach Brett Boretti's 400th win at Columbia. Coach Boretti became Columbia's all-time winningest head coach last season at Dartmouth on April 6th.
The Columbia pitching staff played a major part in the victory over the Quakers. Sheets, Alex Sotiropoulos, and Tomas Lopez combined for 14 strikeouts over ten innings of play. This mark set a season high for the Columbia staff.
Lopez earned the win in relief to move to 1-0 on the season and earn his first collegiate victory. Marty Coyne took the loss in relief for Penn, moving to 4-2 on the season.
Columbia will take on Harvard tomorrow with a chance to advance to the Ivy League Tournament championship. First pitch is scheduled for 4 p.m.
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