The Penn baseball team wrapped up its regular season last weekend, splitting four games with Lou Gehrig Division-rival Cornell at Hoy Field. While mathematically still alive for a division title, the result will likely leave the Quakers on the outside of the playoff picture looking in.
Barring a monumental Princeton collapse this weekend in Ithaca, N.Y., the Red and Blue will finish as runners-up in the division for the second season in a row.
The Quakers (22-17, 12-8 Ivy) swept their hosts in Saturday's action, but a pair of losses the following afternoon effectively doomed their postseason chances.
Frontrunning Princeton (21-18, 12-4) split its four-game set against cellar-dwelling Columbia to preserve a two-game cushion atop the standings.
The Tigers need just one win in their final four games at Cornell to clinch their sixth consecutive division title outright. They have already secured at least a share of the crown.
And so, the Quakers play the waiting game. If the Big Red can sweep the Tigers this weekend, they will force a three-way tie atop the division.
For Cornell to win four straight, however, would be highly unlikely. Since Ivy League baseball reorganized in 1992, the Tigers have never been swept by a division opponent.
Saturday's opener was a taut struggle for six innings, as both teams fought to a 3-3 tie. Penn's junior hurler Russ Brocato fanned seven and walked just one.
But Nick Italiano's two-run homer in the top of the seventh broke the deadlock and put the Quakers ahead, 5-3. Then Andrew McCreery belted his team-best seventh homer to close out the scoring.
Saturday's second game was similarly hard-fought, as Cornell took the Quakers to the 10th inning before succumbing, 7-5. Senior Ben Krantz went eight innings for the Quakers, surrendering a pair of runs.
With the score tied in the 10th inning, junior Kasey Adler's double sparked a rally that put the Quakers ahead for good. Josh Appell pitched a perfect 10th to record the save.
Penn knew it had a taller task on Sunday, with Cornell's top two pitchers slated to start.
The Big Red's Rocky Collis, a freshman right-hander, earned a complete game win for his team in the first game. Collis struck out seven, walked two and gave up one run on six hits in Cornell's 2-1 win.
"He pitched the game of his life," Seddon said. "He threw very hard, and we ran into trouble."
On the mound for Penn, McCreery scattered six hits over eight innings, giving up one run while striking out two. But after Seddon lifted his starter, Cornell was able to get to reliever Josh Appell as Seth Gordon singled home the winning run.
"It was just bad luck," Seddon said. "Moffie misses a home run by a matter of inches. Then [the Big Red] have last licks, and they manufacture a run."
In the nightcap, the Quakers faced one of the Ivy League's best in Chris Schutt. The fearsome right-hander tamed the Penn lineup, throwing eight innings and striking out 10.
"He's one of the premier pitchers in the league," Seddon said.
Cornell led 2-0 until the sixth inning, when Jon Finch hit a towering two-out grand slam. The Big Red would send 10 batters to the plate in the eighth and score six times to win 12-2.
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