Penn’s baseball season ends with loss to Southern Miss in NCAA regional

The clock has struck midnight on the Cinderella story for Penn’s baseball team.

The Quakers squandered a four-run lead in the fourth inning Monday to drop their second straight game to Southern Mississippi, 11-7, in Auburn, Ala. The loss in the Auburn Regional eliminated the Quakers from the NCAA Tournament.

“I’m proud. We fought tooth and nail until the end,” left fielder Calvin Brown said. “Every at-bat was gritty. I think we earned a lot of people’s respect this weekend.”

The Golden Eagles advanced to the Super Regional round for the second consecutive year to face Tennessee. The Volunteers went undefeated as the second seed in the Clemson Regional, including a 14-inning, 6-5 victory over No. 4 national seed Clemson.

Penn, which became the first Ivy League team since the NCAA went to 16 four-team regionals in 1999 to win its first two games of an NCAA regional, fell just short of becoming the first Ivy team to make a Super Regional.

“We made history,” Penn coach John Yurkow said. “About five or six years ago, I started telling people that our goal was to go win a regional. I mean, people looked at me and nodded their heads — I don’t know how many really believed me. I think quite a few, right after I walked away, probably gave a bit of a chuckle. But we’ve made a pretty good run at it this weekend. So I’m proud of what these guys did.”

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Brian Zeldin started for Penn (34-16), going three innings and allowing one earned run on two hits and one walk. Zeldin also struck out three.

Ryan Taylor, Wyatt Henseler, Ben Miller, and Brown each had two hits for the Quakers. Brown also had two RBIs.

“Obviously not the result we want, but I’m really proud of this team,” Brown said. “We battled against a bunch of different arms this weekend, a bunch of different looks.”

Penn committed two errors, bringing the Quakers’ total to eight in the regional, although they did turn two double plays Monday.

“We just made too many mistakes again, I felt like,” Yurkow said. “Playing good teams, we just can’t give them any extra opportunities.”

For Southern Miss (45-18), Tate Parker was 3-for-3 and scored three runs.

As it did every game this regional, Penn struck first. With two outs in the second inning, Jarrett Pokrovsky reached on an error and the Quakers strung together three hits from Taylor, Seth Werchan, and Brown to plate two runs.

Southern Miss scored a run in the bottom of the inning to cut the Quakers’ lead in half, but Penn scored two runs in the fourth on three straight doubles by freshmen Davis Baker, Pokrovsky, and Taylor. Another Brown single lifted Penn’s lead to 5-1.

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However, in the bottom of the fourth, the Golden Eagles amassed five hits, a walk, and a hit batter, scoring four runs and tying the score at 5.

“I feel like we were in a good spot. We’re playing a tough opponent, that’s not going to go away,” Yurkow said. “And you’re looking kind of down in the bullpen and you’re going to be a little shorthanded. David Shoemaker came in. He’s a tough kid. And he’s been pitching injured — he’s got a torn labrum, and he wanted the ball. He left that out in the field.”

Ryan Dromboski came on in relief to get the Quakers out of the jam after starting against Auburn on Friday, and pitched three innings, surrendering three earned runs.

Dustin Dickerson went deep against Penn for the second consecutive day, a three-run shot over the left-field fence to put Southern Miss in front, 8-5, in the sixth inning. Dickerson’s father, Bobby Dickerson, is the infield coach for the Phillies.

Penn scored two runs in the seventh but left two runners on base. Southern Miss added three insurance runs in the eighth, capitalizing on two hits and a Penn error to make it 11-7.

Penn will graduate nine seniors, including four everyday position players and one starting pitcher.

“It’s been a bit of a whirlwind. We lost two seasons with COVID,” Yurkow said. “The seniors really got cheated, so to see them be able to have this opportunity, was pretty special. It’s tough, the last out for me. Great group of guys. They’re awesome.”