“If he had ever made that play before [today], I might have believed it,” Walsh joked. “He’s not our great fielding pitcher.”

Down 12-5 in the top of the ninth, Penn loaded the bases against freshman reliever Andrew Ferreira, and Quaker junior Jeremy Maas hit a grand slam to left, quickly turning what seemed to be a blowout into a three-run game. Walsh called Zailskas to the mound from first base, and he easily got the final two outs to clinch the sweep and earn his third save of the season.

“We had Dan ready in the seventh just in case,” Walsh said. “[He] came in with a three run lead and I like that [situation].”

HARVARD 10, PENN 9

The Crimson erased a six-run deficit with two consecutive four-run frames in the fourth and fifth innings to sneak out of the first game of the twin-bill with a victory.

The Quakers put up eight runs on sophomore pitcher Connor Hulse in the top of the fourth inning, in which the visitors sent 14 batters to the plate and easily overcame an early 2-0 Harvard lead. Still, Albright maintained that the squad was unfazed.

“When we came in from that inning, everyone was positive and ready to go,” the junior captain said.

The Crimson quickly scored four runs in the bottom of the fourth, closing the gap to a more manageable 8-6. Larrow hit an RBI double to deep center field, scoring Way. Senior Chris Rouches followed it with a double of his own, plating Larrow and Reynolds. After advancing to third on a hit-and-run play, Rouches scored on a sacrifice fly by Franklin.

Harvard followed the four-run fourth with four more in the fifth, pulling ahead of the Quakers for good. Following a double by Albright, Way hit a long drive over the right field fence off of Penn sophomore Patrick Brennan to even the score at eight. Following hits by Reynolds and Zailskas and a walk to Rouches, O’Neill singled through the left side of the infield, scoring two runs that proved to be the difference in the game.

“It was good to get the bats going,” Way said. “We dug ourselves a hole, and then we did a good job of coming back.”

Penn threatened in the sixth, scoring a run to close within one, but sophomore Will Keuper closed it out for his second save of the season, pitching two scoreless innings and giving up only two hits.

“[Keuper is] a cool cucumber out there on the mound,” Walsh said. “Having him to finish that first game was real important for us.”

Hulse pitched three scoreless innings before giving up eight runs in 1/3 of an inning in the fourth. Junior Dan Berardo earned the win after relieving Hulse in the fourth and going 1.2 innings. Brennan took the loss for the Quakers, surrendering three runs in just 1/3 of an inning.