PHILADELPHIA – The University of Pennsylvania baseball team took home a pair of weekly honors with Cole Zaffiro named Ivy League Pitcher of the Week and Gavin Collins as Rookie of the Week, announced by the conference office on Monday afternoon.
 
On Tuesday, the Quakers bring their five-game win streak into the opening game of the Liberty Bell Classic against Delaware at Tommy Lasorda Field at Meiklejohn Stadium. The contest will conclude a nine-game homestand.
 
GAME 21: Penn (11-9, 3-0 Ivy) vs. Delaware (11-11, 2-1 CAA)
March 26 | Watch (ESPN+) | Live Stats | Program (PDF)
 
Pitcher of the Week
For the second straight week, Zaffiro is the Ivy League's Pitcher of the Week.
 
In his outing against Brown on Friday, the senior right-hander struck out a career-high 11 batters over seven shutout innings with just two hits and one walk allowed.
 
Over his last two starts, Zaffiro has 20 strikeouts and has pitched 13 consecutive scoreless innings.
 
Rookie of the Week
Collins is the second different Quaker (joining Nick Spaventa) to be named Ivy League Rookie of the Week this season after a great performance during the team's 4-0 week.
 
The freshman outfielder hit .364 (4-for-11) with a double, two RBIs, and four runs scored. He walked four times, had a sacrifice fly and stole a base. In the field, Collins had five putouts to go along with zero errors.
 
His highlight performances came in a doubleheader sweep of Brown on Friday, tallying two hits with three walks and two runs.
 
We're Streaking!
It's officially OK to start calling this run a winning streak. The Quakers have won five consecutive games and eight of their last nine after going 4-0 at home last week with a three-game sweep of Brown to open Ivy play unblemished.
 
On this homestand in particular, Penn is 7-1 and have a chance to take eight of nine games at Tommy Lasorda Field with a victory over the Blue Hens on Tuesday. This is program's best run to begin a season at home since going 12-1 from March 25 to April 16, 2017.
 
Liberty Bell Classic
Tuesday marks the start of Liberty Bell Classic play across the region with Penn taking on Delaware at Tommy Lasorda Field. A win would send the Quakers to either Lafayette or Saint Joseph's on April 2 with a trip to Citizens Bank Park on April 9 for the LBC title.
 
Rider defeated the Blue Hens, 8-3, to clinch their first title in program history in 2023, with Villanova winning the championship in 2022 following a two-year hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
 
Penn is looking for its first title in program history, while Delaware has not won since 2013.
 
At The Plate
Welcome (back) to the .300 club, Wyatt Henseler! The senior third baseman had a .400 (6-for-18) week at the dish over the four-game stretch to get back up to the .300 threshold, hitting that exact mark through the season's first 20 games.
 
He joins Nick Spaventa (.361), Davis Baker (.357), and Connor Chavez (.300) as .300 or better hitters this year.
 
Spaventa and Baker are currently tied for the team-lead in hits (30), with a team-best seven doubles for Baker and Jarrett Pokrovsky.
 
Henseler leads the team and Ivy League with 10 home runs, adding a conference-high 22 RBIs.
 
On The Mound
The Quakers have reduced their team ERA significantly since coming back home to Philadelphia a few weeks ago. Following its season-opening road trip, Penn had a team ERA of 7.80 over 98.1 innings. Now, it's down to 6.11 in 172.1 frames.
 
A big part of that success has been the consistency of reliever Carson Ozmer (1-0, 1.17 ERA), Jake Moss (2-0, 3.68), and Eli Trop (2-1, 4.50), but also from arms Anthoni Kiafoulis (0-0, 3.72) and Thomas Shurtleff (0-0, 3.86).
 
Zaffiro has turned into the Quakers' ace this season, going 2-2 with a 4.15 ERA in five starts, striking out 32 batters, walking 13 in 26.0 innings of work.
 
Scouting Delaware
*The Blue Hens head into Tuesday's matchup with an overall record of 11-11 and a CAA record of 2-1 after taking a series at #21/22 Campbell over the weekend.
 
*Jake Dunion is hitting .382 to lead the UD lineup this season, registering a team-high 29 hits. Andrew Amato has a team-high six home runs with 22 RBIs, while also walking 16 times.
 
*Delaware pitching is giving up an average of 6.96 runs per game in 22 contests. Reliever Anthony Gubitosi has a team-best 0.73 ERA over seven appearances. Tyler August (1-2, 9.14) has a team-high 36 strikeouts in six starts.
 
Series History
Delaware holds a 13-7 lead in the all-time series between the two teams.
 
The Quakers won a 10-9 final over the Blue Hens at Tommy Lasorda Field to cap off the non-conference portion of the schedule last season.
 
UD has won 11 of the last 13 meetings in the series dating back to 1980.
 
Follow The Action
The Tuesday mid-week affair will be streamed live on ESPN+ with live stats provided.
 
For the latest on Penn baseball, follow @PennBaseball on X (formerly Twitter), @Penn_Baseball on Instagram, and on the web at PennAthletics.com.