Lehigh University
3-12
University of Pennsylvania
4-9
Penn Edges Lehigh in Philly
3/21/2017 7:04:00 PM | Baseball
PHILADELPHIA, Pa. – Penn overcame an early deficit by out-scoring Lehigh in the middle innings to ultimately capture a narrow 6-4 victory Tuesday in Philadelphia.
The Mountain Hawks (3-12) held a lead through the first four and a half innings before the Quakers (4-9) racked up a combined five runs in the fifth and sixth innings to take a 6-4 lead. A solo home run by Connor Donovan in the fifth and a RBI single by John Scarr in the sixth kept the deficit under control, but with just one hit in the final three innings, Lehigh could not come up with the offense necessary to retake the lead.
LU threatened in the ninth as Chris Kersey and James Bleming began the inning by getting hit by a pitch and drawing a walk. The threat soon diminished as Jacen Nalesnik struck out, followed by Kersey being thrown out attempting to steal third. Penn forced Anthony Rinaldi into a game-ending ground out to leave Bleming stranded in scoring position.
Lehigh also had something cooking in the eighth after a Penn error allowed Patrick Donnelly to advance to third. With runners on and less than two outs, the Quakers managed to get out of the jam with a strikeout and a ground out to end the inning.
The Brown and white had a promising start to the game as Bleming led off with a home run, followed by a single by Nalesnik. The bats cooled off as LU went hitless in the next two innings and scattered three runs over the final seven innings.
Jack Hartman earned the win for Penn as he entered in the fifth and threw 1.2 innings. Hartman allowed one run on one hit with a walk and two strikeouts.
Anthony Morrone suffered the loss as entered in the fifth. The right-hander tossed one full inning and surrendered three runs on three hits with two strikeouts.
Reigning Patriot League Pitcher and Rookie of the Week, Levi Stoudt, started on the bump for Lehigh and went 3.0 innings. Stoudt allowed just two hits and recorded three strikeouts without giving up a run.
Bleming recorded his first home run of the season with his leadoff homer and Donovan tallied his third to move into second place behind Nalesnik. With those two home runs, Lehigh now has six multi-home run games this season, tying its season total from 2016.
The Mountain Hawks will look to rebound on Saturday when they host NJIT in a doubleheader starting at 12 p.m. to open their home schedule.
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Hartman, Jack (1-0)
L: Morrone, Anthony (1-1)
S: Lescher, Billy (1)
Batting:
2B: Rinaldi, Anthony 1
HR: Bleming, James 1 ; Donovan, Connor 1
RBI: Bleming, James 1 ; Donnelly, Patrick 1 ; Scarr, John 1 ; Donovan, Connor 1
SF: Donnelly, Patrick 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Bleming, James 1 ; Rinaldi, Anthony 2 ; Donovan, Connor 1
SB: Rinaldi, Anthony 1
CS: Bleming, James 1 ; Kersey, Chris 1
HBP: Kersey, Chris 1
Batting:
2B: Graul, Tim 1 ; McGeagh, Matt 1 ; Murnane, Andrew 1
RBI: Graul, Tim 2 ; Halevy, Daniel 1 ; O'Neill, Matt 1 ; Murnane, Andrew 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Graul, Tim 1 ; McGeagh, Matt 2 ; Tola, Matt 1 ; Murnane, Andrew 2
SB: O'Neill, Matt 2 ; Murnane, Andrew 2
HBP: Murnane, Andrew 1
PO: Graul, Tim 1
