PHILADELPHIA -- The game wasn’t clean. It wasn’t easy. But by the end of it, Penn had exactly what it needed.
A sweep. Momentum. And a place firmly in the Ivy League race.
Penn walked off Cornell, 6-5, on Sunday at Meiklejohn Stadium, as Nick Spaventa delivered a single through the left side in the bottom of the ninth, capping a late rally and pushing the Quakers to 14-15 overall and 8-4 in conference play.
For much of the afternoon, they were chasing.
Cornell struck first and built a 5-2 lead by the third inning, taking advantage of early traffic and forcing Penn to play from behind. But as the game settled, so did Thomas Shurtleff.
The senior co-captain gave Penn exactly what it needed — six innings of control after the early damage, allowing just four hits while striking out a career-high seven. Over the middle innings, he kept the deficit from growing, holding Cornell scoreless from the fourth through the sixth and giving the offense time to respond.
They chipped away.
A sacrifice fly from Ernie Echevarria in the second kept things within reach, and in the seventh, Penn began to apply pressure. After putting runners on, Jay Secretarski lined a single to left, trimming the deficit to 5-3 and setting the stage for a final push.
That push came in the ninth — and it came fast.
Echevarria opened the inning with a double down the left-field line, and after a walk and another free pass loaded the bases, Penn finally broke through. A wild pitch brought home the first run. Then came the aggression — a double steal that moved runners into scoring position and flipped the inning’s leverage.
Jarrett Pokrovsky followed with a sacrifice fly to tie the game.
And then, the moment.
With two outs and the winning run at third, Spaventa stepped in and did what Penn has done all weekend — delivered. His single through the left side brought Ryan Taylor home and completed the comeback, sealing the series sweep.
The details mattered.
Penn stole a season-high 10 bases, creating pressure throughout the game. Secretarski drove in two runs. Gavin Degnan added two hits. And when the moment arrived, the Quakers executed — not with one swing, but with a sequence of decisions that built the inning.
Now, the standings matter too.
At 8-4 in Ivy League play, Penn sits just one game off the pace, riding a six-game winning streak into the final stretch of the regular season. In a conference that rarely separates, the margin is thin — and shrinking.
But for now, Penn has something more valuable than position.
It has momentum.
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