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University of Pennsylvania Athletics

Cole Zaffiro vs. Brown
Michael Nance
Cole Zaffiro has struck out 20 batters over his last two starts including a career-high 11 in Friday's Ivy-opening win over Brown.
1
Brown BROWN 4-11, 0-1 Ivy
4
Winner Penn PENN 9-9, 1-0 Ivy
Brown BROWN
4-11, 0-1 Ivy
1
Final
4
Penn PENN
9-9, 1-0 Ivy
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Brown BROWN 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 4 0
Penn PENN 0 0 4 0 0 0 0 0 X 4 9 0

W: Zaffiro, Cole (2-2) L: Jack Seppings (1-3)

5
Brown BROWN 4-12, 0-2 Ivy
6
Winner Penn PENN 10-9, 2-0 Ivy
Brown BROWN
4-12, 0-2 Ivy
5
Final
6
Penn PENN
10-9, 2-0 Ivy
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 R H E
Brown BROWN 0 0 1 0 1 1 1 0 1 0 0 5 11 1
Penn PENN 1 2 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 0 1 6 9 3

W: Trop, Eli (2-1) L: Jacob Young (0-3)

Game Recap: Baseball |

Baseball Wins Dramatic Ivy Openers, Collects Series Victory Against Brown

PHILADELPHIA – So far, so good to begin Ivy League play as the University of Pennsylvania baseball team claimed a series victory with a Friday sweep of Brown at Tommy Lasorda Field at Meiklejohn Stadium.
 
The Quakers (10-9, 2-0 Ivy) used a spectacular two-hit outing out from Cole Zaffiro in a 4-1 victory in the opener and then pulled out a walk-off, 6-5 final in 11 innings in the nightcap to take the first two games over the Bears (4-12, 0-2 Ivy).

Quaker Notemeal
*Penn has now won four straight games and seven of its last eight, becoming the first Ancient Eight team to an overall record above .500 at 10-9.

*Cole Zaffiro (2-2) continued upon his dominant start to the home season, earning a win for the second consecutive weekend with a career-outing against the Bears. He struck out a career-high 11 batters over seven shutout innings with just one walk and two hits allowed. Zaffiro has struck out 20 hitters over his last two starts.

*Davis Baker, Wyatt Henseler, Ryan Taylor, and Asa Wilson each collected three base hits over the twin bill with homers for both Baker and Henseler.

*Both Baker and Henseler hit .375 (3-for-8) on the afternoon with two runs scored and five RBIs between the pair. Both also walked twice.

*In game one, Henseler went 2-for-4 with a two-run home run, his ninth of the season, to lead the Quakers at the dish. Taylor and Gavin Collins also tallied a couple knocks.

*Carson Ozmer struck out four batters over the final two frames to seal the victory for Penn, allowing just one run on two hits in relief of Zaffiro.

*In game two, Baker went 2-for-6 with a homer and two RBIs with Wilson going 2-for-5 with a double and an RBI to pace the offense.

*Ryan Dromboski took the no decision in his fifth start of the year, striking out a season-high nine batters over five innings of work, allowing two earned runs on five hits with three free passes.

*Penn pitching gave up just one Brown hit over the final four frames as Eli Trop (2-1) shut the door out of the 'pen with three brilliant no-hit innings allowing an unearned run with four strikeouts.

*Taylor extended his hitting streak to a team-best eight straight games in two wins over Brown Friday. Baker and Wilson increased their streaks to six games in a row.

How It Happened (Game 1)
Fresh off earning his first Ivy League Pitcher of the Week honors on Monday, Zaffiro got right back to work in the opening game of Friday's doubleheader, striking out two of the first three Bears he faced in the top of the first.
 
He ended up retiring the side in order to begin the second and in the third, after allowing a one-out walk, Zaffiro struck out the side to leave the game knotted at 0-0.
 
After being held scoreless the first two frames, Penn's offense seemed to come back to live in the bottom of the third, as Asa Wilson used a leadoff walk to Connor Chavez to his advantage, lacing a double down the right-field line to score Gavin Collins and take a 1-0 lead. An RBI single for Davis Baker made it 2-0 and then Wyatt Henseler recorded his ninth homer of the year to extend it to 4-0.
 
Zaffiro worked out of a jam in the top of the fourth inning, surrendering a hit and leaving two on before getting Reece Rappolli to pop out to end the threat.
 
Penn had another opportunity to blow the game open in the bottom of the fourth inning, but left the bases loaded after Henseler struck out swinging.
 
Zaffiro continued to settle in during the top of the fifth inning by setting down three more Bears in order, leaving one runner on during the sixth with his ninth strikeout of the afternoon and struck out two more in the seventh to tally his career-high 11th K of the afternoon.
 
In the bottom of the seventh, the Quakers couldn't take advantage of a one-out triple off the bat of Henseler, as Nick Spaventa struck out swinging and Jarrett Pokrovsky popped out to the first baseman to end the charge.
 
Carson Ozmer came in to relieve Zaffiro in the eighth inning and put down Brown 1-2-3 to end the stanza and allowed the one run in the ninth inning before striking out the side on swings to survive with a 4-1 victory.
 
How It Happened (Game 2)
The Quakers began the second game of the twin bill with a literal bang, as Baker ripped a solo shot down the right-field line to take an early 1-0 lead.
 
He was also the benefactor of the second run of the day in the very next inning, doubling home Collins to take a 2-0 lead. In the same inning, Spaventa made it 3-0 with a bases loaded walk, as Wilson came in to score.
 
Brown got back in the run column during the top of the third inning as Mika Petersen led off the frame with a double and DJ Dillehay brought him in to score on a groundout to make it a 3-1 game.
 
Penn left one runner on base during the third inning, but Ryan Dromboski retired the Brown side in order on back-to-back-to-back strikeouts looking to hold form at 3-1.
 
Dillehay cut the deficit to just one run on his RBI single to left field as Penn's lead was cut down to 3-2 in the top of the fifth.
 
With Jake Moss pitching for Dromboski in the sixth, Brown put two runners on with singles to begin the inning, scoring the tying run off Conor Cooke's sacrifice fly to the center fielder, scoring Miles Newsome to make it a 3-3 game.
 
The Quakers found themselves quickly back out in front during the bottom of the sixth inning when Chavez doubled to left field to bring across Collins to score, making it a 4-3 ballgame.
 
A Nathan Brasher single to left center field with two outs had Brown back in business tying the game up at 4-4 in the top of the seventh inning and then pitching did the rest of the work setting the Quakers down 1-2-3 to end the seventh.
 
The combination of Anthoni Kiafoulis and Thomas Shurtleff in the eighth pitched out of another jam, leaving two runners on base at the end of the inning with the score remaining tied at four runs apiece.
 
Wilson had Penn a half inning away from taking the victory after putting a double into left center field, scoring pinch runner Drew Rogers to make it a 5-4 Quaker lead in the bottom of the eighth inning. Baker ended up reaching on a fielder's choice to load the bases before new pitcher Santhosh Gottam got Henseler to ground out to leave all three runners stranded.
 
Looking to tally his second save of the season, right-hander Eli Trop retired two Bears and walking one with Cooke up at the plate. The catcher struck a ball to center fielder Ryan Taylor, who dove and allowed the ball roll all the way to the wall to bring home the tying run in Newsome, knotting the game up at 5-5.
 
Trop continued to deal in the 10th and 11th innings without giving up a run, as Penn got to work in the bottom of the 11th inning, Henseler singling to center field with one away and Spaventa walking to put runners on first and second base. Taylor, who committed the error that sent the game to extras in the ninth inning, got his redemption with a one-out walk-off single to left center field to score Henseler and give the Quakers the 6-5 win. Up Next
Penn will look to finish off the series sweep on Sunday when it takes on Brown at noon at Tommy Lasorda Field. The contest 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.

 
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