PHILADELPHIA – The postseason is here. The University of Pennsylvania baseball team begins its quest to a second consecutive NCAA regional berth this weekend in the second-annual Ivy League Tournament in New York City at Columbia's Robertson Field at Satow Stadium.
 
The fourth-seeded Quakers take on the top-seeded Lions Friday at 3 p.m. in Game 2 of the seven-game, double-elimination Ivy League Tournament with both teams playing Saturday against either second-seeded Princeton or third-seeded Cornell.
 
Coming into the weekend, Penn dropped regular-season series to all three of Columbia, Princeton, and Cornell this season despite defeating the first two in the ILT last year en route to winning the title.
 
2024 Ivy League Baseball Tournament | Robertson Field at Satow Stadium | New York, N.Y.
May 17-20 | Watch (ESPN+) | Live Stats | Tickets
 
SCHEDULE
Friday, May 17
Game 1: No. 2 Princeton vs. No. 3 Cornell – 11 a.m.
Game 2: No. 1 Columbia vs. No. 4 Penn – 3 p.m.
 
Saturday, May 18
Game 3: No. 1 Columbia vs. No. 2 Princeton – 11 a.m.
Game 4: No. 3 Cornell vs. No. 4 Penn –3 p.m.
 
Sunday, May 19
Game 5: Winner of Game 3 vs. Loser of Game 4 – 11 a.m.
Game 6: Winner of Game 4 vs. Winner of Game 5 – 3 p.m.

Monday, May 20
Game 7 (if necessary) – 12 p.m. (ESPN+)
 
ILT History
In the very first year the Ivy League Tournament was contested in 2023, Penn ran the table and won all three games to become the inaugural Ivy League Tournament champion, heading to an NCAA Regional for the first time since 1995.
 
The top-seeded Quakers hosted the tourney at Tommy Lasorda Field at Meiklejohn Stadium, defeating Columbia in the opening game, 10-6, before beating Harvard (10-7) and Princeton (16-3) to claim the crown.
 
Then-freshman outfielder Jarrett Pokrovsky was named the tournament's Most Outstanding Player, grabbing a place on the All-Tournament team alongside Davis Baker, Wyatt Henseler, and Brian Zeldin.
 
A Solid Ending
Penn ended its 2024 regular-season slate in dominant fashion, routing Dartmouth with 40 runs across the Senior Day doubleheader to solidify its spot in the Patriot League standings with just a Harvard-Yale series separating itself from officially clinching.
 
Needing a Harvard win over Yale last weekend to punch a ticket to the tournament field, the Bulldogs took care of business in Game 1 Saturday before the Crimson answered back in Game 2 to seal Penn's fate, officially eliminating the Elis from contention.
 
Re-Writing The Record Books
Wyatt Henseler continues to etch himself into history.
 
The senior third baseman set multiple career and single-season records this season in both the program's and Ivy League's histories. Henseler is the Quakers' career and single-season record holder in hits (72 single-season, 222 career), runs (57 single-season; 171 career), home runs (19 single-season; 51 career), and runs batted in (63 single-season; 180 career).
 
He also set the Ivy League's career records with 51 homers and 180 RBIs.
 
Henseler could break two more records this weekend, including the program's all-time doubles record, currently tied for the lead with 49. At 19, he's also three home runs shy of setting the Ivy League's single-season record.
 
At The Plate
Henseler is the Quakers' offensive leader in multiple categories this season, including average (.371), OPS (1.265), games played/started (42), runs (54), hits (62), home runs (19), RBIs (47), total bases (131), slugging percentage (.784), hit-by-pitches (13), and on-base percentage (.481). He also holds the team lead in multi-hit games (22), multi-RBI games (14), and has a reached base streak of 27 consecutive games, the team's longest of the year.
 
Joining Henseler as .300 hitters are Carson Ozmer (.330), Nick Spaventa (.322), Davis Baker (.304), and Ryan Taylor (.301). Taylor has a team-high 13 doubles, Baker with a team-high four triples. The pair of teammates lead the team with 12 stolen bases. Connor Chavez leads the team in walks (29).
 
On The Mound
Penn will go to work with two important arms in the first two games of the weekend in starters Cole Zaffiro (4-4, 4.98 ERA) and Ryan Dromboski (3-5, 7.39). Zaffiro has a team-best 71 strikeouts and just 27 walks in 59.2 innings of work, while Dromboski has shoved in his last three starts, going 3-0 with a 1.45 ERA over 18.2 innings, striking out 25 batters with just three walks during that span.
 
The Quakers are being led by a quartet of relievers out of the bullpen in Ozmer (1-1, 2.90), Thomas Shurtleff (1-0, 3.62), Eli Trop (2-2, 4.28), and Will Tobin (2-2, 4.28). Shurtleff and Tobin have allowed just three earned runs combined in their last six appearances.
 
As a team, pitching leads the Ivy League in strikeout-to-walk ratio (2.03) as well as strikeouts/9 innings (10.1) and are second in WHIP (1.64).
 
Scouting #1 Columbia
The Lions claimed the regular-season title after going 17-4 in Ivy play with an overall mark of 26-16. CU is 15-4 at home this year, making it a tough location to play a conference tournament for opposing teams.
 
Griffin Palfrey has been a machine this season at the plate, leading the team with a batting average of .383, followed by Sam Miller (.354), Jack Cooper (.346), Cole Hage (.340), Eric Jeon (.329), Cole Fellows (.303), and Skye Selinsky (.301). Columbia has jacked 86 home runs this year, led by Cooper (16), Hage (13), Miller (12), Selinsky (11), and Anton Lazits (11).
 
Starters Derek Yoo (5-2, 4.79 ERA) and Joe Sheets (4-3, 5.08) pace the Lions' rotation, while Palfrey (2-2, 2.25), Thomas Santana (4-0, 4.46), and Will Parkinson (2-1, 4.75) have been consistently solid as well. Parkinson leads the team with 49 strikeouts and just 19 walks.
 
Scouting #2 Princeton
Princeton jumped from barely outside of contention all the way to the No. 2 seed by the end of the regular season. The Tigers finished the Ancient Eight campaign with a 12-9 record, going 17-24 overall.
 
NYC is familiar territory for PU, having dropped two consecutive games to Columbia to end the regular season after winning the opener, 4-2.
 
Jake Koonin (.329) and Jake Bold (.306) lead the Tigers' lineup in batting this season, followed closely by Nick DiPietrantonio (.291) and Caden Shapiro (.281). Kyle Vinci leads the team with seven home runs, adding 26 RBIs.
 
Jacob Faulkner (7-1, 3.16 ERA) has been an electric arm out of the bullpen this season for Princeton, striking out 49 batters, walking just 11 over 57 innings in 19 appearances. His only start of the year came against the Quakers on April 21, tossing six shutout innings.
 
Scouting #3 Cornell
The Big Red looked to be threatening for the regular-season title during the early goings of the year, but fell back to earth to take the third seed, tying both Penn and Yale at 11-10 in Ivy play, but took the tiebreaker over both teams. Cornell dropped two-of-three games to Brown in the final weekend of the regular season, a week after being swept by Columbia by an aggregate score of 41-13.
 
John Quinlan has been a force offensively this season for Cornell, leading the team with a batting average of .395 in 29 games. Max Jensen (.371) and Mark Quatrani (.330) join Quinlan as members of the .300 or above club. Quatrani has a team-best nine home runs with 36 RBIs, with Matt Barnhorst slugging eight and Nathan Waugh seven.
 
Cornell have two consistent starting pitchers in Ethan Hamill (3-3, 5.74 ERA) and Noah Keller (1-5, 6.30). Chris Ellison is a leading reliever with a 3-0 record and a 4.67 ERA over 17.1 innings.
 
Follow The Action
All games during the tournament will be streamed live on ESPN+ with live stats also provided.
 
For the latest on Penn baseball, follow @PennBaseball on X (formerly Twitter), @Penn_Baseball on Instagram, and on the web at PennAthletics.com.