Though Harvard walked eight times to go along with its six hits, the team stranded 10 runners on base in the game.

“Early in the first game, at least today, we played well,” Bailey said. “One play turns it into a different ballgame. Basically [we need to] zone in to every play instead of taking a play off, a pitch off.”

PENN 9, HARVARD 6

After dropping the first game of Saturday’s doubleheader, the Crimson found itself tied with the Quakers after five innings of play in the rubber contest. But Penn (15-10, 8-0) scored a combined six runs in the final four frames to secure the sweep by a score of 9-6.

Six different Harvard pitchers took the hill in the game. Junior starter Matt Timoney surrendered just two earned runs in six innings, but the team’s relievers could not stop the Penn offense in the later innings.

The Crimson tied the game with three runs in the bottom of the fourth after three Harvard hitters singled to begin the inning. Penn infielders helped the Crimson’s cause by committing two errors in the frame.

Harvard’s top three hitters—Bailey, co-captain Kyle Larrow, and Martin—registered a combined seven hits on the game. But despite out-hitting the Quakers, 11-9, the Crimson struggled to move runners around and left 10 men on base.

PENN 7, HARVARD 3

With two innings left to play in the first game of the weekend, the Crimson appeared to be in control. A three-run fifth had given Harvard a 3-1 lead over the Quakers, and the team’s ace in sophomore Sean Poppen returned to the mound.

But nothing went right for the Crimson after that. Penn scored three times in the top of the sixth to take back the lead, and the visitors tacked on another trio of runs in the next frame to secure a 7-3 victory.

The decisive sixth inning saw the Quakers string together three consecutive singles to load the bases with no outs. Just minutes later—after a fielder’s choice, a sacrifice fly, and a squeeze—all three runners had crossed the plate, Poppen had been removed from the game, and Penn had taken a lead it would not surrender.

Harvard’s big inning came in the bottom of the fifth, highlighted by an RBI double from Bailey off the wall in center field. With two knocks, Bailey was the only Crimson player to register more than one hit in the game.

“We came into the weekend trying to do something big and show everyone that we can compete,” Bailey said. “We dropped the ball a few times and didn’t get key hits when we needed to. It just didn’t work out for us this weekend.”

—Staff writer Caleb Y. Lee can be reached at caleblee@college.harvard.edu. Staff writer David Steinbach can be reached at david.steinbach@thecrimson.com