PHILADELPHIA – Knotted in a three-way tie for third place in the Ivy League standings, the University of Pennsylvania baseball team hits the road for three games against one of those teams, Princeton, starting with an 11:30 a.m. doubleheader Saturday at Clarke Field and single game at noon Sunday.
 
Both the Quakers and Tigers come into the weekend with an Ancient Eight record of 6-6 with two conference series remaining after this one on the road to the Ivy League Tournament.
 
GAME 33-35: Penn (14-18, 6-6 Ivy) at Princeton (10-20, 6-6 Ivy)
April 20-21 | Watch (ESPN+) | Live Stats
 
Hoping For Better Days
It's been a bit of a rough bend for the Quakers heading into the homestretch of the regular season. Penn has dropped three consecutive games and seven of its last 10. Still, it remains in the thick of the hunt for a spot in the Ivy League Tournament, tied with both Princeton and Yale at 6-6.
 
Last Time Out
Penn dropped an 8-3 matchup to Saint Joseph's on Wednesday afternoon at Tommy Lasorda Field to wrap up a four-game homestand.
 
The Hawks scored first, notching two runs in the first inning, and never relinquished the lead. The Quakers scored once in the fourth and two runs in the ninth to make it a five-run game.
 
Wyatt Henseler went 2-for-5 at the plate with an RBI, while Ryan Taylor, Nick Spaventa, Jarrett Pokrovsky, and Gavin Collins all registered knocks.
 
Henseler Milestone Watch
We're getting closer to end of the line on Henseler's journey to being the Quakers' all-time hits leader, needing just one to tie, two to pass Dan Williams '11 for the lead. After a two-hit day against SJU on Wednesday, he's currently second in program history with 203 career hits, needing 205 to make history.
 
Henseler is also closing in on Penn's career doubles record as well, sitting at 47 and two from tying and three from overtaking the mark.
 
At The Plate
*Henseler leads the Quakers in almost all of their offensive categories including batting average (.347), OPS (1.245), games played and started (32), runs scored (38), hits (43), homers (15), RBIs (38), total bases (98), slugging percentage (.790), hit-by-pitches (9), and on-base percentage (.455).
 
*Henseler (.347), Spaventa (.325), Taylor (.322), Carson Ozmer (.306), and Davis Baker (.301) lead the team in batting average, followed closely by Asa Wilson (.297) and Connor Chavez (.284).

*Chavez had his hitting streak snapped at 11 games after going 0-for-3 at the plate against Saint Joseph's. His team-best 26 straight games reaching base remains intact.
 
*Spaventa has recorded a hit in 11 straight games after getting a knock on Wednesday. Henseler (17), Ozmer (15), Taylor (12) and Spaventa (11) all have reached-base streaks of 10 games or more.
 
On The Mound
*Penn pitching is allowing nearly seven runs per game this season at 6.96. That number in Ivy play is 7.05.
 
*Eli Trop has yet to allow an earned run in Ivy League play this season, going 1-1 with a 0.00 ERA in four appearances, with nine strikeouts and four walks over 8.1 innings. Overall, Trop is 2-2 with a 2.76 ERA in 13 appearances, recording 21 strikeouts and nine walks.
 
*Carson Ozmer (1-0, 2.70) leads the Quakers with four saves and a WHIP of 1.13 in 26.2 innings of work. He has 34 strikeouts and just 11 walks.
 
*Cole Zaffiro (4-3, 5.18) picked up his fourth win of the year on Saturday against Cornell. He's struck out 51 batters and walked just 22 in 41.2 innings.
 
Scouting Princeton
*The Tigers are coming off back-to-back losses to Rider and Harvard after dropping two-of-three to the Crimson at home last weekend.
 
*Princeton has Ivy series victories over Cornell and Brown this season so far.
 
*Jake Bold (.298) and Jake Koonin (.294) lead the team in average while Koonin has a team-high 32 hits and 13 doubles this season. Bold, Koonin, Caden Shapiro, and Kyle Vinci share the team lead in home runs with four.
 
*PU pitching is allowing 7.93 runs per game this season overall, but just 6.33 in Ivy play. Reliever Jacob Faulkner (4-1) leads the team with a 3.86 ERA in 37.1 innings, while starter Sean Episcope (0-4, 7.03) has a team-high 36 strikeouts, walking just eight in 32 innings of work.
 
Series History
While Princeton holds an overall mark of 161-114-2 over Penn in the all-time series, the Quakers have owned the series as of late, winning eight of the last 10 meetings.
 
The Quakers took three of four from the Tigers in 2023, capped by a 16-3 rout in the championship game of the Ivy League Tournament last May.
 
Just how good have the Red and Blue been against their rivals from Old Nassau? Penn is 15-3 in its last 18 games against Princeton since April 17, 2016.
 
Follow The Action
All three games this weekend 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.