PHILADELPHIA – The University of Pennsylvania baseball team continues its Ivy League slate as the Quakers host rival Princeton at Meiklejohn Stadium for a three-game series starting on Friday at 3 p.m. The series will wrap up the following day with a doubleheader starting at 11:30 a.m.
 
Penn currently sits atop the Ivy League standings, tied with Columbia and Harvard at 6-3 in League play after sweeping Dartmouth last weekend. Princeton enters the weekend with a 3-6 record, tied with Dartmouth for sixth.
 
GAMES 27-29: PENN (17-9, 6-3 Ivy) vs. PRINCETON (6-19, 3-6 Ivy)
April 12-13, 2019 | Meiklejohn Stadium | Live Stats: Game 1, Game 2, Game 3 | ESPN+: Game 1, Game 2, Game 3
 
PROJECTED STARTERS
Game 1: Mitchell Holcomb (5-0, 3.79 ERA, 38.0 IP, 26 K)
Game 2: Christian Scafidi (3-1, 4.21 ERA, 36.1 IP, 29 K)
Game 3: John Alan Kendrick (0-1, 4.13 ERA, 32.2 IP, 28 K)
 
PENN VS CANCER
Saturday's doubleheader will serve as Penn's 'Vs Cancer Game'. For the sixth-straight season, the Quakers have teamed with Vs. Cancer to bring awareness to pediatric cancer and to help fund child life programs and pediatric brain tumor research in local hospitals. Penn has raised more than $35,000 for The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) since 2014 and have raised nearly $8,000 this year. To support the Quakers' cause, follow the corresponding link.
 
Noah Buchannan will be throwing out the first pitch in game one of Saturday's doubleheader. Noah is 12 years old and a cystic fibrosis patient at CHOP. He is from Blackwood, N.J. and plays flute in his high school band as well as the Gloucester Township Honor Band. In his free time, Noah likes to play video games, watch baseball, and listen to music.
 
THE MATCHUP
Friday's series opener will mark the 272nd meeting between Penn and Princeton. The Tigers hold the series edge, with a 158-110-3 record against Penn. The Quakers have had the advantage as of late, winning seven of the last eight against their Ancient Eight rival.
 
NEWS AND NOTES: PENN
*Lacing balls on a regular basis, Penn has the nation's second-best batting average (.350) and on-base percentage (.444).
 
*Despite starting the season two weeks later than most Division I programs, Penn ranks fifth in the nation with 379 hits. The Quakers have been capitalizing on all the hits, ranking second in scoring with 10.6 runs per game.
 
*Penn hits the ball often and hits the ball far. The Quakers lead the nation in doubles per game (3.15) and rank fourth with 82 doubles. Penn also has the nation's third-best slugging percentage (.531).
 
*Craig Larsen and Peter Matt lead Penn and the Ivy League with 47 hits. Larsen ranks fourth in the nation with 1.88 hits per game while Matt is sixth with 1.81 hits per game.
 
*Larsen has been on a tear throughout his freshman year. He ranks fourth in the nation with 1.60 RBI per game and is 18th overall with 40 RBI. Larsen is the Ivy League leader in RBI and has eight more than fellow freshman, Josh Hood, who ranks second with 32.
 
*Matt is one of the nation's best baserunners and has been crucial cog, hitting leadoff for Penn's high-scoring offense. He leads the Ivy League with 38 runs scored and ranks 25th in the nation in the category. His 1.46 runs per game is the fourth-best average in the nation.
 
*Matt O'Neill has been on a tear since the Quakers got rolling in Ivy League play. Over Penn's last seven games, he has gone 21-for-37 (.567) with 14 RBI and 12 runs scored. He ranks 19th in the nation with his team-leading .412 batting average.
 
*Holcomb leads the Ivy League with a perfect 5-0 record. The junior has made six starts this season, allowing 19 runs on 33 hits with 26 strikeouts over 38.0 innings pitched. He has a 3.79 ERA on the season after throwing a one-run complete game against Dartmouth last Sunday.
 
*Scafidi posted perhaps his best performance of the season to lead Penn to the series sweep against Dartmouth last Sunday. He pitched eight scoreless innings with seven strikeouts and just one walk. All four hits he allowed on the day were singles, with the Big Green unable to knock more than one hit in an inning.
 
PENN BY THE NUMBERS
4 • Penn players with 10 or more doubles on the season. Larsen leads the group with 14, followed by Hood (12), Phelan (11), and O'Neill (10).
 
4.68 • Team ERA for the Quakers' pitching staff, the lowest among Ancient Eight programs.
 
5 • Triples by Matt and Eduardo Malinowski this season. They are each one triple away from tying the program record for triples in a season.
 
5 • Penn players with more than 40 hits through 26 games. Larsen and Matt lead Penn with 47 each, followed by Sean Phelan with 46, Hood with 45, and O'Neill with 42.
 
6 • Games in which the Quakers have scored under six runs.
 
7 • Penn hitters with multiple home runs this season. Larsen and Hood lead the Quakers with six each, followed by Phelan (4), O'Neill (3), and Courtney, Hernandez, and Malinowski each with two.
 
9 • Different Penn players with 40 or more at-bats this season are batting above .300. McGeagh and Courtney are the only two of Penn's usual starting nine with an average under .300, but both batters have 30 or more knocks and are each in double digits in RBI.
 
11 • Penn players with more than ten RBI this season.
 
12 • Games in which the Quakers have reached double digits in scoring.
 
16 • Of Penn's 28 home runs this season, the number that have come from freshmen.
 
25 • Walks for O'Neill this season, most by any Penn player and second-most in the Ivy League. His ability to reach base on balls coupled with a seven-game multi-hit streak leaves him with an Ivy League-leading .531 on-base percentage.
 
28 • Games. Reached-base streak for Phelan. The senior has gotten on in all 26 of Penn's games this season as well as the last two games of the 2018 season.
 
30 • Strikeouts for freshman pitcher Joe Miller. He leads Penn in K's.
 
103 • Career RBI by Phelan. He moved into ninth in program history after an RBI in the series finale against Dartmouth.
 
152 • Career appearances for Phelan. He is eight games away from tying the program record set by Dan Williams.
 
246 • RBI for the Quakers this season. They lead the Ivy League with 88 more than Yale, which ranks second with 158.  
 
379 • Hits for Penn through 26 games this season. The Quakers are 83 hits off the program record with 15 games to go.