The Liberty Bell is ringing in a victory for the Quakers.
In the midst of Ivy League play, Penn baseball participated in a battle for local glory in the Liberty Bell Classic. After a 13-3 win against Lafayette, the Quakers will play in the tournament’s championship game at Citizens Bank Park on April 21.
The Liberty Bell Classic, conceived in 1992, is an annual tournament featuring eight Philadelphia-area teams, culminating in a championship game at Citizens Bank Park. The Quakers have participated in the tournament each year but have never won the title.
Penn kicked off this year’s tournament with a midweek game at Delaware State, coming off a sweep of Yale in a weekend series. Despite not counting toward conference standings, the team still came in with a strong desire to take home the victory.
“Our coaches, especially our hitting coach [Mike Santello], tell us to treat every game like the Super Bowl,” said senior utility player Jarrett Pokrovsky. “I know it’s probably cliché to hear, but we do try our best to bring the energy. With guys coming from class in the morning to play a game, it can be tough to lock in, but our coaches do a good job of bringing the energy, and it trickles down to the team.”
In a bullpen game started by freshman left-handed pitcher Ben Moulin, Penn gave the first year a lead before he even took the mound. Thanks to multiple errors by the Hornets, who entered the game with a 2-22 record, the Red and Blue took a 3-0 lead in the top of the first, and added another three in the second thanks to RBI hits from junior outfielder Gavin Degnan and Pokrovsky.
The Quakers cruised from there, with teams trading runs until the eighth, which began with Penn leading 9-2. An RBI groundout from sophomore catcher Ernie Echevarria pushed Penn’s total into double digits, giving them what seemed to be a comfortable eight-run lead. However, Delaware State stormed back, pushing across three runs of its own. Pokrovsky took the mound after starting the game in right field to clean out the eighth, while junior right-handed pitcher Josh Katz would close the game in a 10-5 Quaker victory.
The win moved Penn to the tournament semifinals, where it faced Lafayette, a four-time victor of the Liberty Bell Classic, most recently taking home back-to-back titles in 2018 and 2019. The Quakers rolled out a bullpen game once again, with Connor Darling getting the nod to start the game.
“You’re trying to get guys some work as far as pitchers go,” coach John Yurkow said regarding the pitching plan for the game. “We want to get guys some innings that maybe don’t throw as much on a weekend, so you’re typically gonna see a parade of pitchers get run out there.”
Tuesday’s parade included six pitchers, combining to allow three runs over seven innings, in a game cut short thanks to Penn’s offensive performance. The scoring started right away, with a walk from freshman infielder Jay Secretarski and an RBI triple from Pokrovsky giving the Red and Blue an early 1-0 lead.
“The past couple of weeks I’ve actually been seeing the ball better,” said Pokrovsky. “I had a slow start, getting pitched a little differently than I was last year, but today and in the last couple weeks, I’ve been seeing it pretty well.”
Junior infielder Nick Spaventa doubled home Pokrovsky before the inning ended, and the Quakers tracked on two more in the second, with an RBI single from senior outfielder Ryan Taylor and an RBI triple by Spaventa bringing home the runs.
“In the last week or two, I’ve definitely seen the ball better,” Spaventa said. “My swing has felt good.”
Taylor came through again in the third, scoring two on a single and coming around to score on a Secretarski single, extending Penn’s lead to 9-1. The Quakers pushed three more runs across thanks to some sloppy Leopard defense, and entered the seventh leading 12-3. With runners on second and third, junior infielder Nick Guachione singled to score Spaventa, giving Penn the 10-run lead it needed to secure a mercy-rule victory in seven innings and advance the Red and Blue to the finals.
“I’m looking forward to it,” Pokrovsky said. “I played there twice in high school, in the Carpenter Classic, but it’s been very cool.”
The Quakers will return to conference play this weekend in a three-game series against Cornell in Ithaca, N.Y.
