After splitting a doubleheader Saturday, Columbia looked to pick up the victory against Penn on Sunday to win the first series of their Ivy League campaign. They lost 13–7.

Columbia (7–12) and Penn (14–6) squared off on a gray and windy afternoon Sunday at Robertson Field at Satow Stadium. The teams split Saturday’s doubleheader, with Penn notching a 10–5 victory in the first matchup. In the second affair, Columbia led a thrilling comeback, erasing a six-run deficit and hitting back-to-back solo home runs in the bottom of the ninth to walk off with an impressive 11–10 victory. 

Penn had a short memory, however, as they didn’t dwell on their squandered win Saturday evening and made quick work of the Lions on Sunday. From the first inning, it was all Penn. The Quakers jumped all over the Lions’ starting pitcher Billy Black, who gave up six runs before being pulled from the mound in just the second inning. 

In the top of the third, Penn hit a pair of back-to-back home runs, and suddenly the Lions saw themselves under the weight of a 9–0 deficit. Columbia finally responded with runs of their own in the bottom half of the inning. A sacrifice fly from Cole Hage brought Griffin Palfrey in for the score, and Jacob Phelps scored off a double from Tyler MacGregor.

Heading into the bottom of the seventh, Penn had pushed their lead out to 12–2, and the game seemed to be all but over. But all of a sudden, the Lions had the bases loaded, a serious opportunity to cut into the Quakers’ lead. Indeed, Columbia ended up exploding for five runs in the inning. Austin Mowrey drove home Hayden Schott on a single. EJ Kreutzman smacked an RBI double that scored Weston Eberly and Joshua Solomon. A groundout from Andy Blake and another base hit from MacGregor scored Mowrey and Kreutzman respectively. This flurry brought Columbia back into the game, but with just two innings left to play, there was still serious work to be done if the Lions were going to overcome the remaining 12–7 deficit. 

Columbia would never get over the hump, as they ended up losing this one 13–7. Owen Coady picked up the win for Penn, and the losing pitcher was Columbia’s Billy Black. Penn out-hit Columbia 19–8, but the real sore spot in the Lions’ loss was their five errors.

Looking ahead:

Columbia, after the home stand against Penn, falls to 1–2 to begin Ivy play, sitting 7–12 overall. They’ll head across town Wednesday afternoon to face St. John’s before returning home next weekend for more Ivy League competition in another three-game series against Princeton. Wednesday’s matchup in Queens is set to begin at 3:30 pm. Saturday’s (April 2) doubleheader against the Tigers will begin at 11:30 am, and the series will conclude Sunday, with first pitch at 12 pm.

Photo by Eli Knodell