Lehigh falls 11-4 to Penn Wednesday

BETHLEHEM, Pa. – Penn jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the top of the first and never looked back as the Quakers earned an 11-4 win over the Lehigh baseball team Wednesday afternoon at Legacy Park. The Mountain Hawks fall to 6-12 overall, while Penn improves to 5-8.

"We have a lot of talented kids who work very hard, but today they didn't go out and execute," said head coach Sean Leary. "We can't give a talented team like Penn that many free passes and expect them to not take advantage of it. We like certain phases of our game, but our pitching needs to be more consistent day-to-day."

Lehigh scattered five hits throughout the game. Junior Jacen Nalesnik and senior Mike Garzillo recorded an RBI apiece.

Penn took a quick 3-0 lead in the top of the first thanks to an RBI single from Sean Phelan and a two-run double off the bat of Tim Graul. Sophomore Peter Moore came on in relief in the second inning and allowed just two hits in his first three innings on the mound until a two-run home run from Matt Greskoff put the Quakers ahead 5-0 with one out in the top of the fifth.

Lehigh got three hits through the first four innings off Penn starter Billy Lescher. Mitch Holtz took over on the mound for the Quakers in the top of the fifth and hit senior Anthony Rinaldi before walking freshman Jeff Shanfeldt. Sophomore James Bleming sent a single to center before an RBI groundout from Nalesnik put Lehigh on the board. Shanfeldt was then able to score on an error on Penn's catcher before an RBI groundout from Garzillo and another Penn error helped Lehigh narrow Penn's lead to 5-4 through five frames.

Penn then used five hits to score three runs in the top of the sixth, but junior reliever Connor Donovan got out of a bases-loaded, no-out jam with a pair of strikeouts and a pop up to limit the damage. Donovan and freshman Anthony Morrone kept Penn off the board until the Quakers added three runs in the top of the ninth, but Lehigh's offense wasn't able to get anything else off a pair of Penn relievers as the Quakers claimed the 11-4 win.

Lehigh senior starter Brandon Kulp suffered the loss after surrendering the three first-inning runs. Lescher earned the win for the Quakers.

The Mountain Hawks remain home Friday to host Manhattan at 3 p.m. in the first game of a three-game series against the Jaspers. Free video will be available on the Patriot League Network.

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Team Stats

Jacen Nalesnik

Connor Donovan

Anthony Rinaldi

James Bleming

Players Mentioned

James Bleming

Connor Donovan

Mike Garzillo

Brandon Kulp

Peter Moore

Anthony Morrone

Jacen Nalesnik

Anthony Rinaldi

Jeff Shanfeldt

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