PHILADELPHIA – The final road series of the Ivy League calendar, the University of Pennsylvania baseball team heads to Cambridge Saturday to take on Harvard at O'Donnell Field.
 
Saturday's doubleheader is set to begin at 11:30 a.m. with a single game on Sunday slated for noon.
 
The Quakers and Crimson are currently locked in a three-way tie with Yale for the fourth and final Ivy League Tournament spot. First-place Columbia, Cornell, and Princeton all have a scenario to clinch a berth in the tourney in the penultimate weekend of the regular season.
 
GAME 36-38: Penn (15-20, 7-8 Ivy) at Harvard (11-22, 7-8 Ivy)
April 27-28 | Watch (ESPN+) | Live Stats
 
Important Games
There couldn't be anything more important this weekend for the Quakers than to pick up much-needed victories in the hunt for a spot in the Ivy League Tournament. Last weekend, Penn failed to seal the series win at Princeton, dropping to a three-way tie for fourth place with just six Ancient Eight contests to go.
 
Penn, Harvard and Yale are all tied for fourth with a 7-8 record with the Quakers owning a tiebreaker over the Bulldogs after winning two out of three earlier this year. Princeton is a game ahead in third place at 8-7, while Cornell and Columbia square off against each other this weekend with eyes set on the Ivy title.
 
At The Plate
As of late, Penn offense has been guided by a familiar bat in the lineup in senior third baseman Wyatt Henseler, who has a team-best .346 batting average with a team-high 47 hits and an OPS of 1.224. His home run total is up to 16 with 40 RBIs and a staggering 105 total bases.
 
Last weekend, Henseler set yet another program record with his 205th career hit, becoming Penn's all-time leader. Currently at 47, he's two doubles from tying, three from setting the team's career doubles mark as well.
 
The Emmaus product isn't the only member of the Red and Blue hitting for average, as Nick Spaventa (.323), Ryan Taylor (.310), and Carson Ozmer (.306) are all hitting north of .300 on the year.
 
On The Mound
Penn pitching has given up an average of 6.68 runs per game over 35 games this season, including 6.37 in conference play.
 
Last weekend was the starting rotation's best pair of outings on a Saturday doubleheader in a while as Cole Zaffiro (4-3, 4.66 ERA) and Ryan Dromboski (1-5, 9.08) both pitched brilliantly in their starts against the Tigers. Zaffiro tossed a 10-strikeout, two-hitter over 6.2 innings despite not registering the decision, while Dromboski had his best start of the year so far, twirling six strong innings, allowing one run (none earned) on two hits with nine strikeouts to pick up his first win of the 2024 campaign.
 
Relievers Eli Trop (2-2, 2.76) and Carson Ozmer (1-1, 2.86) continue to shove out of the bullpen with sub-3.00 ERAs. Trop wasn't used in the Quakers' series against the Tigers, last seeing action on April 14 against Cornell. He has not allowed an earned run since Feb. 25 opening weekend against Abilene Christian.
 
Scouting Harvard
*Harvard enters the second-last weekend of the regular season with an overall record of 11-22, going 7-8 in Ivy play. The Crimson last picked up a three-game series victory vs. Dartmouth last weekend at home and have won consecutive conference series after taking two-of-three at Princeton the weekend before that.
 
*Ben Rounds leads the Crimson with a batting average of .413 with a team-best 1.203 OPS in 33 games. He has a team-high 52 hits to go along with a team-high 12 doubles and seven home runs, driving in 26 runs.
 
*William Lybrook (.338), Callan Fang (.324), and Jake Berger (.306) are all hitting above .300 this season ith George Cooper (.299) right outside the cutline.
 
*Sean Matson (3-2, 3.20 ERA) has been terrific as the ace of the Crimson rotation, striking out 58 batters with 22 walks in 50.2 innings of work. Fang (3-2, 4.64), who has been a mainstay in the lineup as a bat, also has excelled on the hill this season for Harvard. He has an astounding 73 strikeouts with just 12 walks in 54.1 innings.
 
Series History
Penn enters the weekend trailing Harvard 115-79-1 in the all-time series, dropping the three-game set in 2023 before topping the Crimson, 10-7, in the Ivy League Tournament.
 
The Quakers' last time out in Cambridge, they won two out of three games over Harvard in 2022.
 
Follow The Action
ESPN+ will be the streaming home of all three games this weekend 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.