Penn splits doubleheader with Princeton, eliminated from Ivy race

 

Princeton 14, Penn 2, FINAL
Penn saw its hopes of a division championship fade away, as the Quakers were blown out by the Tigers in Game 2. Penn's season ends with the Quakers 12-27, and 7-13 in the Ivy League, which will be no better than second and no worse than third in the Gehrig Division.

Every Princeton starter had at least one hit in Game 2, and eight scored at least a run as Princeton scored in six different innings. Meanwhile, the Quakers only had four hits and didn't have a runner even reach second base until a homer by Tim May in the ninth. It's a disappointing ending to the season, but Penn has made strides this season towards being an improved team. I would take encouragement from the two hits and semi-rally in the ninth, as the Quakers wouldn't quite give yp their season so easily.

Princeton 13, Penn 0, End 6th
It just doesn't seem like it's Penn's day today, as the Tigers tack on another run and the Quakers continue to struggle at the plate. Penn will have to come up with a monumental comeback to have any shot at staying alive in the Gehrig Division race.

Princeton 8, Penn 0, End 4th
Princeton steadily increases its lead as Penn's bats have been silent in Game 2 against Christian Staehely. The run scored in part due to a wild pitch from Schwartz, another preventable mistake.

Princeton 7, Penn 0, End 3rd
More bad Penn defense (a missed easy pop-up by first baseman Tim May) leads to more two-out Princeton offense, as the Tigers add to their lead. Gibbons is now out, replaced by Steven Schwartz, who stranded two runners to end the inning.

Princeton 6, Penn 0, End 2nd
The Abate move completely backfires, as he walks the first batter in the second and is removed for Michael Gibbons. Gibbons then gave up a single and a two-run triple, which Gatti took a bad angle towards as the ball got by him, followed by an RBI groundout. Princeton has sent 14 batters to the plate already, while Penn has only sent seven.

The Quakers are in a huge hole early, but there is still a lot of time left.

Princeton 3, Penn 0, End 1st
Shoddy defense hurts Penn again, as centerfielder Michael Gatti misplays Aaron Prince's bloop, allowing Zach Wendkos to bat with two outs, and hit his second homer of the day to give Princeton the lead. The next batter, Sal Iacono, hits one out as well, and the Tigers lead 3-0. Maybe Cole's decision to use Abate was not the best, as there is already action in the Penn bullpen.

Penn-Princeton Game 2
Game 2 is about to start here, a nine-inning affair. Starting for Penn will be Sean Abate, who actually went 7 and a third innings yesterday. We'll see how long coach John Cole keeps him in for.

Penn 9, Princeton 7, FINAL
Brown, who blew Game 1 yesterday and saved Game 2, finished his 2.1 innings of work today with a 1-2-3 seventh to get the save and keep Penn's hopes alive. The Quakers win to improve to 7-12, while Princeton drops to 6-9. Cornell's loss makes them 5-10. We'll get into more details after next game, which will start in about 35 minutes. Come back for more updates. Either way, Penn still needs to win the next game to stay alive.

Penn 9, Princeton 7, End 6th
Penn rallied to take the lead with two outs in the sixth, on a walk, a single, another walk, and and two two-run singles by Josh Corn and Tim May. The second walk of the inning was a bizarre play, as Princeton catcher Sal Iacono threw to second with the runner going on ball four. His throw went into center, and Ken-Ichi Hino trotted home to score, or so he thought. Apparently, the umpires ruled that the batter, Nwaka, got in Iacono's way, forcing the bad throw. So the walk stood but Hino went back to third. This came after a lengthy delay and several consultations of the rule book by both umpires and both coaches. Corn's single, though, made the longest walk that I've ever seen a moot point.

In the bottom of the sixth, Brown gave up a one-out single and got through unscathed, putting Penn three outs away from a huge victory.

In Ithaca, Columbia scored six runs in the eighth inning on only two hits, and beat Cornell 10-4, making their second game less pressing for Penn.

Princeton 7, Penn 5, End 5th
Alex Nwaka crushed a three-run homer to give Penn the lead in the top half of the fifth, but, Princeton got a clutch two-out single from Zach Wendkos to tie the game. Another hit from Sal Iacono gave Princeton the lead back. Closer Doug Brown came in after Iacono's single and gave up another RBI single to make it 7-5 before getting out of the inning. Penn is now down to its last six outs of the season.

On the out-of-town scoreboard, Cornell and Columbia head to extra innings in Game 1. As a reminder, two Cornell wins today would eliminate the Quakers, as would one Penn loss.

Princeton 4, Penn 2, End 4th
The Quakers got back into the game with a few hits in the fourth, but made the last out at second base as Scott Graham tried to advance on the throw. Wallace settled down with a 1-2-3 inning in the bottom half.

Princeton 4, Penn 0, End 3rd
The last half hour or so has been unkind to the Quakers. A two-out pop-up right behind the mound fell between three players, and the next batter, Princeton's Aaron Prince, hit his first home run of the year to give the Tigers the lead. Prince's homer came on about the eighth or ninth pitch of the at-bat. After a single, Zach Wendkos crushed another two-run homer to give the Tigers a four-run spread, all unearned off Bret Wallace.

And in Ithaca, Cornell has tied up Columbia going to the sixth inning.

Penn 0, Princeton 0, End 2nd
So far, we have played two innings, and seen only one more than the minimum 12 batters. Penn has a hit by Kyle Armeny, but he was erased by a double play. Princeton has one batter reach on an error with two outs in the second, but he was stranded.

Meanwhile, Penn needs Columbia to beat Cornell, and so far the Lions are obliging, leading 4-2 in the 5th inning of Game 1 in Ithaca, N.Y.

PRINCETON, N.J. -- Welcome to Clarke Field, where Penn will try to stay alive in the Lou Gehrig Division race. The doubleheader starts at 1 p.m., and check back on the Buzz for more updates as the game progresses.

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