Harvard had another chance to climb further back in it in the bottom of the sixth, but Kropf grounded into a double play with one out and one on to end the sixth, setting the stage for the seventh inning avalanche.

Brian McKitish (4-2) pitched a complete game for Columbia.

Penn 6, Harvard 2

As often happens when Harvard ace captain Ben Crockett takes the mound, a line of radar guns behind home plate clocked his every pitch during Saturday’s nightcap. But on this occasion, the most impressive performer pitched for the other team.

“It was pretty good pitcher’s dual, and the kid beat him,” Walsh said.

The kid was Penn junior Andrew McCreery, who went 2-for-3 at the plate in addition to holding the Crimson to two runs after the winds over O’Donnell Field had turned the first game into a 35-hit circus.

McCreery hit an infield single in the third and eventually scored on a Penn sacrifice fly with the bases loaded. Later in the inning, the Quakers (9-21, 4-8 Ivy) loaded the bases with one out and got their second run on a Nick Italiano sacrifice fly before Crockett (2-2) struck out McCreery to escape the third relatively unscathed.

After Lopez reached on Italiano’s error at second base in the fourth, Trey Hendricks moved him over to third with a double to right. Lopez scored on a McCreery pitch that hit the backstop.

But McCreery helped his cause once again in the top of the sixth with a two-out single, and raced home on a double by cleanup hitter Bryan Graves.

That was all the offense Penn needed, but wasn’t all they would get as Penn added three runs in the eighth, two on a two-out double by outfielder Alex Blagojevich. Harvard stranded two runners in the bottom of the eighth to cap off a frustrating Saturday.

Crockett, who hit three batters, went the distance for the Crimson but didn’t seem to have his very best stuff for much of the game.

Penn 19, Harvard 11

In a game in which an implausible six Quaker home runs cleared the fence at O’Donnell Field from the seventh-inning on, it was a Harvard ball that bounced over the fence that arguably made the difference.