PCB Sweeps First Games of ’18-’19 Season

PRINCETON, NJ— The weather was less than ideal on Sunday, but Penn Club Baseball took both games against the Princeton Tigers. The Quakers used the full pitching staff for the double header, which saw eight pitchers across thirteen innings. Rookie freshman Colin Brown impressed with two scoreless innings in game 1 to pick up his first club baseball win. Senior Jake Ebright jumpstarted the offense with 2 early doubles and 3 RBIs that got PCB rolling en route to a 9-4 victory. Chris Glynn and Nate Robinson each had four hits in Game 1.  Ebright was also the swingman in a key 5-4-3 double-play that killed a Tigers’ rally in the fifth inning. Sean Young closed out the final two innings to earn the save. Catcher Nate Dangle put in a solid defensive effort behind the dish for all seven innings.

Game 2 was a marathon affair that saw the Quakers bat around in the first inning and jump to a 5-0 lead. The lead was quickly erased, however, as Princeton battled back to take an 8-7 lead.  Three crucial outfield assists from rookies Ken Schumacher and Jack Henry kept the Tigers from pulling away any further. Catcher Nick Armetta guarded the plate and came through with some clutch 2-out RBIs in his first career club start. The Quakers finally got to the Tigers’ bullpen in the fifth inning to put a 9 spot on the board and take an 18-9 lead into the sixth inning. Schumacher led the offensive attack with a huge bases-clearing triple. PCB put the game away in the sixth for a decisive 26-9 victory.

 

Next up: PCB hosts Villanova for a three-game series on Sept. 29-30.

Congratulations to the newest members of PCB:

Nick Cohen

Jack Roland

Ken Schumacher

Jake Ebright

Jack Henry

Dane Greisiger

Jack Herrmann

Colin Brown

Joe DeSimone

Nick Sifuentes

Daniel Acosta

Nick Armetta

Will Cohen

 

2018-2019 Tryouts

UPDATE 09/15/18: The second round of tryouts is Sunday, Sept. 16th, at 6:00pm in Penn Park.

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Tryouts for the 2018-19 season will be held on Saturday, September 8th at 3:00pm at Meiklejohn Stadium.

Shorts are fine but please wear a baseball hat. Cleats are recommended. Pitchers should be prepared to throw a short bullpen. Catchers should bring gear (if possible).  Position players will be assessed on throwing, fielding, hitting from front toss, and timed sprints. Time permitting, we may play a few innings.

If you don’t have all your equipment yet, there will be plenty of gear around to borrow. Please show up on time to get stretched and warmed up so we can jump right into tryouts.

Looking at the weather, we might get some rain Saturday. If we get rained out, tryouts will be moved to Sunday at 6pm at Ace Adams Field in Penn Park.

If you have any questions, please email nrobin@sas.upenn.edu.

Rowan Series Recap

PCB was crushing the ball last Saturday against Rowan University en route to a two game sweep. Four home runs, one each from J.P. Quinn, “pitcher only” Timmy Miller, Henry Fishman, and Andrew Becker, as well as a nine run inning, proved decisive. Behind Becker’s strong pitching and a laser of a home run from Quinn, PCB got out to a 4-3 lead in game 1, before Timmy broke it open in the bottom of the sixth with a three-run opposite field blast. Nate Robinson then closed the game out in the seventh for a 7-3 win. We couldn’t keep the momentum going in game 2 though, and went down 7-2, with the only highlight in the first 4+ innings being a solo shot from Fishman. The bats finally woke back up in the bottom of the fifth though, as we put together a nine run inning, the highlight of which was a clutch three-run home run by Becker to give us the lead for the first time in the game. Nate again took over on the mound late in the game, and PCB held on for an 11-9 victory. Some highlights and lowlights:

Highlights:

• Hitting four home runs and generally mashing the ball
• Shallow outfield fences
• Middle infield turning double plays
• Between-game hoagies

Lowlights:

• The strike zone
• Second baseman committing two errors

With the two wins, PCB moves to 9-2 in divisional play, a half game back of St. Joe’s. The crucial series will be next weekend, when we play three games against St. Joe’s with a chance to win the division and move on to regionals.

Villanova Series Recap

PCB opened the spring season against Villanova this past weekend at Meiklejohn Stadium. After getting rained out of the Saturday game, we played two on Sunday, with the second a full nine inning game. Game one was a nail-biter. The bats were cold early on, and even after they woke up, we couldn’t come up with a clutch hit to make the breakthrough. Fortunately, Andrew Becker was lights out on the mound, striking out 14 through 7 innings to send the game into extra innings. It took 10 innings, but finally, with the game tied 1-1, Jerome Allen came through with the big 2 RBI base hit we had been looking for, and PCB held on for the 4-2 win in what was a marathon of a game.

Game 2 continued in much the same style. Timmy Miller pitched seven strong innings, the defense continued to play solidly, and there was just enough offense to take a 4-2 lead into the 8th. Timmy handed the ball over to Nate Robinson, who closed out the game with a six out save. The win capped 19 total innings of baseball and a Sunday sweep that moved PCB to 7-2 in divisional play. Some highlights and lowlights:

Highlights:

• Quality pitching
• Not making a single error in the field over 19 innings
• James Townsend raking
• Playing at the Meik
• Hoagies between the games and postgame cookies

Lowlights:

• Getting “rained” out on Saturday (despite the only rain coming on Thursday)
• Leaving runners on base in extra innings

Thanks to all the fans and parents who came out and supported us on Sunday. We will attempt to get a series in against Rowan next weekend to keep our strong season going.

Temple Series Recap

Last weekend, PCB took on Temple in a big 3 game divisional series. All in all, it was a very successful weekend. Breaking from our usual form, we started off quick. Behind a complete game from Nate Robinson, some clutch hitting, and good baserunning, PCB took a tight game one 5-3. We kept the momentum going into Sunday. Game two was a similarly tight affair which PCB won 7-5. The freshmen showed their ability on the mound, as Timmy Miller pitched 5 2/3 excellent innings and Henry Fishman closed it out. With a series win already in the bag, we came out flat in game three and, despite a late rally, dropped the last one 5-4. Some highlights and lowlights:

Highlights:

• Sam Rodgers’ cannon of an arm gunning down a baserunner at second
• Jerome Allen’s 4 RBI’s in game 2
• Eddie Jenkins coming out of nowhere (sprint football) and having a big first couple of games at the top of the order
• Fresh new jerseys
• Pitchers throwing strikes
• Decent defense
• Fairly quick games

Lowlights:

• JP’s cleats (or lack thereof)
• Piles of leaves by the backstop
• The general state of the infield

PCB finishes the fall season with a solid 4-2 record in divisional play and in good shape heading into the spring.

Neumann Series Recap

Last weekend PCB opened divisional play with a three game series against Neumann university. Quite frankly, the less said about the Saturday game the better. However, we were able to turn things around and swept the double header on Sunday to take two out of three in the series overall. Russell Rhoads started game 1 on Sunday with three hard fought innings, before Henry Fishman came in and shut down Neumann the rest of the way. Like Saturday, the bats started off cold on Sunday, but came alive in time to come from behind to win game 1. Game two featured five strong innings from Timmy Miller. After scoring two runs in the first, the bats went cold again, but woke up one more time in the fifth, as we scored five runs to take control of the game. Jerome Allen came in for a six out save to seal a 7-5 game 2 victory. Some highlights and lowlights:

Highlights:

• Scoring runs in bunches
• Fresh new helmets
• Postgame cookies

Lowlights:

• Walks
• Saturday’s hitting
• Sunday afternoon traffic

We finish off the fall season in two weeks with an important divisional series against Temple.

Rider Double Header Recap

Last Sunday, PCB played a double header on a very wet field against Rider University. It took a while for us to get going. Freshman P Timmy Miller put in a strong effort in game 1, pitching 5 solid innings, but didn’t get much help from the defense or some questionable umpiring. The bats were dead quiet until the bottom of the 7th, when we came up with a 7 run rally, but unfortunately couldn’t come all the way back, and ended up falling 12-8.

We did manage to keep our momentum from the end of game 1 going into game 2 and came out strong with 3 runs in the first inning. Behind the lights out pitching of Russell Rhoads, who came one out away from a complete game, we never trailed and ended up taking game 2 10-4.

Highlights:

• Russell Rhoads being untouchable on the mound
• Game 2 offense

Lowlights:

• Having game 1 delayed by half an hour because we only had one base
• Nate’s long uber ride
• The bats being asleep for the first 6 innings of game 1
• Needlessly renting a third car

We have a couple weeks off, before we’re back in action Oct. 22-23 to start divisional play.

Stevenson Double Header Recap

PCB opened up the season with a double header last Saturday against Stevenson University. Game 1 was tight until the 6th inning when, up 5-4, we ran out of pitching and Stevenson was able to blow the game open. Game 2 was a similarly tight affair. With neither team able to win it in 7 innings, the game went into extra innings, where, in the bottom of the 8th, Mike Mannix won it for PCB with a bases loaded, walk-off single.

Some highlights:

• Freshman C Jacob Cala gunning down three base runners at second
• Some clutch defensive plays by OF Ryan King and 2B/SS Alex Hoffnagle
• Solid first outings for most of our pitchers
• Quality bench chatter
• Going home on a walk-off

Our next games are next Sunday, 8/2, when we host Ryder for a double header.

Second Tryout

For any of you who didn’t make the first tryout this past Saturday as well as all of you who did show we have our second and final tryout this Wednesday 9/23 at 7pm in the Hollenback Annex

This is the last tryout we have so if you didn’t show to the first one you’ll need to show to this one in order to make the team

If you have any questions please email at

mafink@sas.upenn.edu