SPARTANBURG, S.C. – Senior third baseman Wyatt Henseler made history, breaking the Ivy League record for career home runs as the University of Pennsylvania baseball team split a doubleheader at USC Upstate on Saturday.
 
The Quakers (2-4) fell in the opener, 14-4, before exploding for 11 runs in the nightcap in a six-run victory over the Spartans (5-5).
 
Quaker Notemeal
*Wyatt Henseler totaled two home runs on the day, tying the Ivy League record (34) in the first game before breaking the record in the second game with his 35th homer. He passes Brown's Pete Greskoff from 2011 for first all time.
 
*Freshman Nick Spaventa put together a dream day at the plate, going 2-for-4 in the first game before batting 4-for-5 with four RBI in the second game. On the day, Spaventa went 6-for-9 (.667) with two home runs and four RBI.
 
*In Game 1, Thomas Shurtleff pitched three strong innings of relief without allowing an earned run, striking out three with a walk and three hits. Anthoni Kiafoulis struck out a pair over 2.2 innings without surrendering a hit.
 
*In the Quakers' Game 2 victory, their top-of-the-order each recorded at least one hit with three for Henseler and four for Spaventa. Connor Chavez (1), Davis Baker (1), Henseler (2), Spaventa (4) and Jarrett Pokrovsky (1) totaled nine of Penn's 10 RBIs.
 
*Carson Ozmer continued his dominance on the mound, hurling two shutout innings with three strikeouts to pick up his first win of the year.
 
How It Happened (Game 1)
Facing Ryan Dromboski in his second start of the year, USC Upstate erupted for nine runs in the first inning and tacked on a 10th in the bottom of the second to lead, 10-0.
 
With Thomas Shurtleff pitching in relief, the Spartans tallied two more runs to extend the lead to 12-0 in the fifth inning.
 
Henseler tied the Ivy League career home run record in the top of the sixth inning, a two-run shot to left field to cut into the lead, 12-2.
 
Penn answered Upstate's two-run homer in the eighth with back-to-back shots from Gavin Collins and Justin Neskie in the top of the ninth as the Spartans hung on for a 14-4 win.
 
How It Happened (Game 2)
Upstate picked up where it left off from Game 1 with two early runs in Game 2, leading 2-0 against Penn starter Cole Zaffiro.
 
It was a three-run top of the fourth inning for the Quakers in the fourth inning after Henseler scored on Jarrett Pokrovsky's fielder's choice, who ultimately scored on a fielding error that brought Ryan Taylor on base. That tied the game at 2-2. Qwynn Ahearn singled through the right side to drive in Collins to give Penn a 3-2 lead.
 
Henseler set the new Ivy home run record with a bomb to left center, doubling Penn's edge to 4-2. The Spartans launched a pair of homers in the sixth inning to re-take a 5-4 lead but Nick Spaventa hit his second homer of the season in the eighth to knot it back up at 5-5.
 
In the ninth, a Davis Baker RBI single, RBI double for Henseler, and a three-run homer off the bat of Spaventa to left center capped a six-run frame for the Quakers in their 11-5 victory.

Quotable
"Obviously, we didn't start great today. Drombo got hit around a lot in the first game and they got out to a big lead. But, considering we didn't play that well in the first game, I thought we did a great job bouncing back, especially after being down 2-0 early. We dug in and started making pitches with a good start from Zaffiro. Marty [Coyne] came in and kept us close and Ozzie shut it down. We made some adjustments at the plate and strung some good at-bats together with a few homers from Wyatt and Nick to gain some separation. Despite how the day started, I was proud of the guys for fighting back, and with a lot of young guys in the lineup, I thought they did a great job holding the line and kept competing. That's how we came out on top at the end of this." - John Yurkow, W. Joseph Blood Head Coach of Baseball.

Up Next
Penn closes out its series with the Spartans Sunday at 1 p.m. from Harley Park, seeking its first series win of the 2024 campaign. The contest will be streamed live on ESPN+.
 
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