PHILADELPHIA – The University of Pennsylvania baseball team opens its Ivy League slate on Friday afternoon, taking on Brown starting at 11:30 a.m. at Tommy Lasorda Field at Meiklejohn Stadium. The series will continue on Sunday at noon.
 
The Quakers (8-9) are victors in five of their last six games including two straight after putting up a combined 34 runs in home wins over Lafayette (Sun.) and Lehigh (Wed.). The Bears (4-10) have dropped five games in a row, including a three-game set to Bryant and a single game against Holy Cross on Tuesday.
 
GAME 18-20: Penn (8-9, 0-0 Ivy) vs. Brown (4-10, 0-0 Ivy)
March 22 & 24 | Watch (ESPN+) | Live Stats – Game 1, Game 2, Game 3 | Program (PDF)
 
Piling Up The Runs
Well, there's just been something about those Penn hitters as of late, totaling 34 runs over its last two games in a 22-8 victory over Lafayette on Sunday and a back-and-forth 12-11 win against Lehigh on Wednesday. The offense has certainly come alive, the catalyst for five wins in the Quakers' last six games.
 
On Sunday, the Quakers used two eight-spots in both the fourth and seventh innings en route to a Meiklejohn Stadium-record 22 runs in a romp over the Leopards. The total was also the most scored by the Quakers at home since March 25, 1983 at the old Bower Stadium.
 
On Wednesday against the Mountain Hawks, the lead changed hands six (!!) times, capped by Davis Baker's first homer of the season, a solo shot, to put Penn ahead for good.
 
Player of the Week
Ryan Taylor earned his first-career Ivy League Player of the Week nod on Monday. Last week, Taylor led the offense, hitting .529 (9-for-17) at the plate with two doubles, a triple, three runs, and eight RBIs, totaling 13 bases with two walks and two steals. He finished the weekend with a slashline of .529/.765/.575 and an OPS of 1.344. After a 1-for-3 day against Lehigh Wednesday, Taylor extended his hitting streak to a team-best six games. During the five-game homestand, he's batting .500 (10-for-20) with nine RBIs.
 
Pitcher of the Week
Cole Zaffiro took home Ivy League Pitcher of the Week laurels after strong outing against the Leopards on Saturday. Zaffiro shoved in his fourth start of the year, tossing six shutout innings, scattering four hits with nine strikeouts. The K total are his most since striking out 10 Yale Bulldogs on April 22, 2023. Zaffiro leads the team in strikeouts with 21 over a team-high 19.0 innings.
 
Weekly Honors
Penn has had an Ivy weekly award winner in four straight weeks to begin the 2024 season. Davis Baker and Taylor have each been named Player of the Week once, Nick Spaventa was Rookie of the Week twice and Zaffiro claimed Pitcher of the Week for the first time Monday.

At The Plate
It only took five games at the Meik to get more guys going at the dish, as the typical three-headed machine of Nick Spaventa (.380), Baker (.370), and Connor Chavez (.328) were joined by Jarrett Pokrovsky (.304) and Taylor (.302) in the .300 club.
 
Baker and Spaventa are tied for the team-lead in hits (27) with a team-high six doubles each for Baker and Pokrovsky. Wyatt Henseler continues his reign atop the leaderboard in home runs (8) and RBIs (19).
 
The Quakers are hitting .299 at the plate as a team through the season's first 17 games, tops among Ivy teams this year.
 
On The Mound
After Zaffiro's solid start Saturday, he continues his lead in innings pitched (19.0), batters faced (75), starts (4) and strikeouts (21). Carson Ozmer still has the Quakers' lowest ERA at 0.73 while Jake Moss has a team-high two wins, surrendering the least walks (1).
 
Returning All-Ivy
Led by 2023 Ivy League Coach of the Year John Yurkow, Penn has a returning major award winner in Ryan Dromboski. In 2023, he went 7-3 in 13 starts, recording an ERA of 3.32 with 97 strikeouts and just 35 walks en route to being named Ivy League Pitcher of the Year.
 
The Quakers also return six All-Ivy selections, Dromboski (first team), Henseler (first), Zaffiro (first), Baker (second), Ozmer (HM) and Pokrovsky (HM).
 
Preseason Favorites
Penn was unanimously voted No. 1 in the Ivy League Preseason Poll, announced on Monday. The Quakers received all 16 first-place votes, leading to 128 points in a poll voted on by the league's sports information directors and one member of the media that covers each school.
 
Columbia was ranked second (101), Harvard in third (97), Princeton fourth (87), Yale fifth (66), Cornell sixth (37), with Brown (35) and Dartmouth (25) rounding out the field.
 
Scouting Brown
*The Bears are looking for their first win in two weeks after dropping five straight to Davidson, Bryant, and Holy Cross to fall to 4-10 overall on the year.
 
*Three Brown hitters are batting above .300 with Gunner Boree (.349), DJ Dillehay (.316), and Nathan Brasher (.313). Dillehay leads the Bears in hits (18) and is tied for the team lead in home runs (3) with Brady Dever.
 
*A trio of Brown arms will get sent to the hill this weekend in starters Jack Seppings (1-2, 6.23 ERA), Paxton Meyers (2-0, 3.38), and Santhosh Gottam (1-3, 10.00). Meyers leads the rotation with 21 strikeouts.
 
Series History
Penn and Brown have a lengthy series history dating back to the first meeting in 1885. The Quakers have taken the last six matchups against the Bears since 2022, including nine of the last 10 dating back to 2018. The Red and Blue hold an 88-79-5 advantage over Brown.
 
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