ABILENE, Texas – Abilene Christian picked up a series-clinching victory Sunday afternoon at Crutcher Scott Field, taking down the University of Pennsylvania baseball team, 9-3.
 
The Quakers (1-3) dropped three of four games in the season-opening set, while the Wildcats improved to 6-3.

Quaker Notemeal
*Freshman Nick Spaventa spearheaded Penn's offense Sunday, going 3-for-4 at the dish with his first collegiate home run in the second inning.

*Spaventa, Davis Baker, Jarrett Pokrovsky, Carson Ozmer and Qwynn Ahearn all registered knocks for the Quakers.

*Sunday starter John Cerwinski recorded the no decision, allowing three runs on five hits with three strikeouts over 3.2 innings of work. Will Tobin (0-1) was charged with the loss after conceding three earned runs on four hits in 1.2 innings of relief.

*Pokrovsky and Baker recorded a hit in all four games this weekend.

*Wyatt Henseler (0-for-4) saw his 18-game hitting streak dating back to last season come to a close, but walked in the top of the ninth to keep his reached-base streak alive at 19 straight games. Ryan Taylor (0-for-3) also increased his reached-base streak to 19 in a row after drawing a walk.
 
How It Happened
Penn picked up a baserunner in the leadoff spot to open the first inning as Connor Chavez reached on an error by the ACU shortstop. However, Rolando De La Cruz retired the Quakers' 2-3-4 batters to get out of the inning.
 
The Wildcats struck first in the bottom of the first inning against Penn starter John Cerwinski after Zandt Payne doubled to right field and DJ Van Atten drove him home on a groundout to take the early 1-0 lead.
 
Nick Spaventa hit his first-career home run in the top of the second inning, a solo shot to right field to even the contest at 1-1.
 
Abilene Christian answered back in the bottom of the second on a homer to right field, re-taking the lead at 2-1.
 
Penn managed just two hits with no runs the next two frames and ACU capitalized with another run on a sacrifice fly following a double to extend the lead to 3-1.
 
Ryan Taylor and Qwynn Ahearn led off the fifth with a walk and single, respectively, and tacked on a run off Davis Baker's fielder's choice, cutting closer at 3-2.
 
Thomas Shurtleff escaped trouble in the bottom of the fifth when allowing two hits and Baker made a tremendous play at short, gloving a liner and throwing out Payne at second base for the double play.
 
The Quakers started a bit of a rally in the top of the sixth after Jarrett Pokrovsky singled to center field, Nate Polo walked and Spaventa singled to load the bases. A Carson Ozmer single to center field brought home Pokrovsky to knot the game back up at 3-3.
 
Will Tobin struck out the first two batters he faced in the home half of the sixth, but ACU picked up back-to-back knocks to put runners on second and third. Tobin retired the side on strikes when he got Reese Borho looking.
 
Abilene Christian put together a big seventh inning, scoring three runs on two hits with three runners left on base after Eli Trop retired Borho looking again to end the inning with the Wildcats in front, 6-3. They also scored thrice in the eighth on three hits to balloon the lead to 9-3.
 
Taylor and Ahearn recorded two quick outs to begin the Penn ninth, but the Quakers ended up loading the bases on Wyatt Henseler's two-out walk. Pokrovsky struck out swinging to end the contest.
 
Up Next
The Quakers head to the Palmetto State on Spring Break from March 1-10, beginning with a three-game series at USC Upstate on Friday. All three games will be streamed live on ESPN+.
 
For the latest on Penn baseball, follow @PennBaseball on X (formerly Twitter), @Penn_Baseball on Instagram, and on the web at PennAthletics.com.