Columbia entered the Ivy League Tournament with the best offense in the conference, but that didn't matter to Penn as the Quakers put on a show with their own bats on Friday, cruising to an impressive 10-6 victory over the Lions at Meikeljohn Stadium.
The Quakers erupted for 13 hits on the afternoon and went down on strikes just twice.
"The top of the lineup has been getting it done, and I'll tell you what, those freshmen we have hitting in the middle aren't playing like freshmen, they are giving us veteran at-bats up there and they just keep getting better and better," said Penn head coach John Yurkow.
Wyatt Henseler led Penn at the plate, mashing a two-run homer in the first while adding a two-run double in the sixth. He finished 2-for-4 with five RBIs and two runs scored while extending his current hitting streak to nine games. Seth Werchan also had a strong showing at the plate, finishing 2-for-4 with a two-run single in the first.
Penn starting pitcher Owen Coady left the game after facing three batters in the opening frame with what appeared to be a shoulder issue. Brian Zeldin came in and pieced together a solid performance on short notice, tossing 3 1/3 frames while yielding just one run on two hits. He also whiffed three.
"I knew I was first guy in, so I was moving around a little bit, but it definitely caught me off guard a little bit," Zeldin said. "I had as much time as I needed though, so I definitely took my time to do my thing."
"That's one of the luxuries there of having a senior thrust into that situation," Yurkow said. "We've been building up his pitch count, so it was good that he was able to keep them at bay and allow us to keep scoring."
The Quakers will face Harvard on Saturday as the Crimson defeated Princeton on Friday in a 3-2 thriller in the first game of the Ivy League Tournament.
Harvard won the season series over Penn, taking two of three when the two teams met in late March.
Columbia will play Princeton on Saturday in an elimination game.
