PHILADELPHIA – The University of Pennsylvania baseball team is set to kick off a full week in South Florida with a four-game series against FIU. The Quakers enter the weekend with a 1-2 record after a hard-fought series against Kennesaw State last weekend.
 
PENN (1-2, 0-0 Ivy) at FIU (7-3, 0-0 C-USA)
GAME 1 | Friday, March 6 | 7 p.m.
Miami, Fla. | Live Stats
 
Game 2 | Saturday, March 7 | 2 p.m.
Miami, Fla. | Live Stats
 
Game 3 | Saturday, March 7 | 6 p.m.*
Miami, Fla. | Live Stats
 
Game 4 | Sunday, March 8 | 12 p.m.
Miami, Fla. | Live Stats | Watch
 
*Notates game two of a doubleheader
 
The Series: Penn vs. FIU
Friday's series opener marks the second meeting between the Quakers and the Panthers. The two sides first met in 1993 and played out a high-scoring contest which saw the Panthers come out on top, 15-9.
 
Weekend Rotation
Game 1: Christian Scafidi (1-0, 0.00 ERA) vs. Logan Allen (2-0, 2.37 ERA
Game 2: Mitchell Holcomb (0-1, 9.00 ERA) vs. Tyler Myrick (0-1, 4.50 ERA)
Game 3: TBD vs. Will Saxton (1-1, 1.74 ERA)
Game 4: Joe Miller (0-0, 6.75 ERA) vs. TBD
 
Last Time Out: 6-5 loss to Kennesaw State
The Quakers will look to bounce back after a heartbreaking, 6-5 walk-off loss in the rubber match against Kennesaw State. Eduardo Malinowski fired Penn in front with a two-run jack in the top of the ninth, but three runs from the hosts in the bottom of the frame gave the hosts the series victory.
 
High-Powered Offense
Not much has changed between last year's Penn offense and this year's. Through three games, the Quakers have scored 16 runs off 28 hits. Through three games last year, Penn had scored 15 runs off 33 hits, with one of those three games going to 13 innings.
 
Perfect Balance
In last weekend's season-opening series, Penn's lineup was nicely balanced between the four academic classes. Three games in, including pitchers, Penn has given starts to three freshmen, five sophomores, two juniors, and four seniors.
 
Returning Talent
Penn boasts a bevy of returning star power to the lineup this season, including six of its eight All-Ivy selections in 2019. Those selections include Ivy League Pitcher of the Year, Christian Scafidi, and Ivy League Rookie of the Year, Josh Hood. The pair are joined by outfielder Peter Matt as the trio of returning first-team all-conference selections.
 
Chris Adams, and Craig Larsen return after second-team selections while Eduardo Malinowski will look to build after an honorable mention honor last year.
 
All Eyes On Us
Prior to the start of the season, Penn was voted the preseason No. 1 in the Ivy League Preseason Media Poll. With each of the Ancient Eight schools contributing votes from a pair of media personnel, the Quakers topped the poll with 119 points and 10 of the 16 available first-place votes.
 
Penn was also dubbed the preseason favorite in D1Baseball's Ivy League Preview, citing the Quakers as the most well-rounded team in the league. Baseball America selected Penn to finish second in its Ivy League preview, with last year's champion, Harvard, taking the top spot.
 
Scouting FIU
The Panthers stormed out to a 7-0 record to start the season with series sweeps against Fordham and George Mason, as well as a midweek victory against Bethune-Cookman. The glean of a positive start quickly wore off, however, with No. 24 Pepperdine taking a three-game series sweep last weekend in Miami.