COLUMBIA, S.C. – The University of Pennsylvania baseball team opens their 2023 campaign this weekend with a three-game series against SEC member and two-time College World Series champion #23 South Carolina.

The Quakers head to the Palmetto State for the second straight year after a Spring Break trip in 2022 when they faced Wofford, Winthrop, and the College of Charleston. The series with the Gamecocks will mark the first of 11 straight road games before the team returns to Meiklejohn Stadium for their home opener on March 15 against Villanova.

GAME 1-3: PENN (0-0, 0-0 Ivy) vs. #23 SOUTH CAROLINA (4-0, 0-0 SEC)
February 24-26 | Watch ($)– (Game 1, Game 2, Game 3) | Live Stats – (Game 1, Game 2, Game 3)

PROJECTED STARTERS
Game 1:  Owen Coady* (7-1, 2.80 ERA) vs. Will Sanders* (7-3, 3.42 ERA)
Game 2: Cole Zaffiro* (2-1, 4.57 ERA) vs. Noah Hall* (3-5, 4.34 ERA)
Game 3: Ryan Dromboski* (0-0, 5.40 ERA) vs. Jack Mahoney* (N/A)

* 2022 Stats

Scouting South Carolina
The Gamecocks are off to a 5-0 start to the season, outscoring their opposition 68-8 in the process, hitting .386 while yielding an opponent batting average of .156.
 
Five players are hitting over .400 through the first week of the season, led by freshman Ethan Petry, who in addition to hitting .615, currently boasts a team-best OPS of 1.933 Braylen Wimmer's .526 average and 1.644 OPS both rank second on the team behind Petry.
 
Petry and Wimmer are two of five Gamecocks with at least three home runs thus far, with Gavin Casas setting the early pace at four.
 
On the mound, James Hicks has struck out seven batters across seven scoreless innings in two appearances. Mahoney struck out nine in 5.2 scoreless innings in his first collegiate start last weekend.
 
This weekend's series marks the first-ever meeting between the Quakers and the Gamecocks.

NEWS AND NOTES: PENN
* Of the Quakers' 10 All-Ivy selections last season, six return this season, including the team's three .300+ hitters -- Wyatt Henseler (.383), Jackson Appel (.346), and Ben Miller (.330) --, plus Cole Palis and Nate Polo, who each hit over .300 in Ivy League play. Owen Coady is the team's lone returning all-conference hurler after posting a 2.80 ERA with 74 strikeouts in 54.2 innings of work, pitching to a remarkable 7-1 record.
 
* Joining Coady on the bump are six additional Quakers who pitched to a sub-5.00 ERA last season, including David Shoemaker who had an ERA under 1.00 more than half the season, ultimately finishing the year with a 2.16 ERA and 1.12 WHIP.
 
* Six Quakers have been named team captain this season: Appel, Coady, Miller, Palis, Henseler and Shoemaker. 

NUMBERS OF NOTE
 
.810 • W. Joseph Blood Head Coach John Yurkow led the Red and Blue to a 17-4 record in Ivy League play last year, good for a win percentage of 0.810. That win percentage was the highest in a single season since 1989, when the team won 15 of 18 Eastern Intercollegiate Baseball League (EIBL) games, a win percentage of 0.833.
 
.990 • Fielding percentage for Appel in 2022 after committing just three errors in 300 total chances.

1 • Penn was first or tied for first in the Ivy League in batting average (.300), on-base percentage (.392), ERA (4.11), and batting average against (.230).
 
9 • Penn has nine freshman on the 2023 roster – four pitchers, three infielders, one catcher, and one outfielder.
 
17 • The 17 Ivy League victories last season set a new single-season program record, breaking the previous mark of 16 set by the 2015 team.

21 • Shoemaker made 21 appearances on the hill in 2022, tied for third-most in a season in program history, and most since Reid Terry made 23 appearances in 2010.

27 • The Quakers scored 27 runs in a game twice last season, both in Ivy League play. The first occurrence came on April 10 against Harvard; the second came just 19 days later against Yale.

33 • Penn set the program record for wins in a season last year with 33, smashing the old record of 29, set back in 1989.

50 • With 50 home runs hit in 2022, Penn set another program record, surpassing the 47 hit by the 1998 team.

57, 72 •  Henseler rewrote the program record book last year. In addition to his 14 home runs, the junior third baseman also set new single-season records with 57 runs scored and 72 hits.

484 • Penn's hitters weren't the only ones setting records in 2022. The pitching staff combined for 484 strikeouts, obliterating the previous single-season mark of 358 set in 2018.