CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – The University of Pennsylvania baseball team attempted to overcome a three-run deficit in the second inning, managing to score two runs in the fourth but Virginia took the first game of the regional, 4-2, Friday afternoon at Davenport Field at Disharoon Park.
 
The Quakers (24-24) will face St. John's in an elimination game Saturday at noon. The host Cavaliers improve to 42-15 overall and take on Mississippi State tomorrow night at 6 p.m.

Quaker Notemeal
*Penn will play in the 0-1 elimination game at an NCAA regional for the first time since 1995, where the Quakers fell to Auburn, 2-1, and then Indiana State, 6-5.

*By and large, the combination of Cole Zaffiro and Eli Trop held the nation's second-best offense (in terms of batting average) to just four runs on six hits. Virginia came into the weekend hitting .341 as a team, averaging 9.7 runs per game, which is the third-best total in D1 baseball.

*Quaker hitters managed just four total hits against Cavaliers pitching, a knock each for Connor Chavez, Davis Baker, Nick Spaventa, and Asa Wilson.

*Baker had Penn's lone extra-base knock with an RBI double in the fourth inning.

*Wyatt Henseler's team-best reach-base streak of 32 straight games came to a halt after going 0-for-4 at the plate with three strikeouts. His 12-game hitting streak also came to an end.

*Baker increased his team-best hitting streak to 15 consecutive games.

*Zaffiro (5-5) was charged with the loss after allowing just three runs on four hits over six innings of work. His bid to become Penn's all-time strikeout leader seems to have come up a bit short, totaling four Ks against the Hoos' lineup. He needs one to tie, two to pass Craig Connolly (227 from 1987-90) for the record.
 
How It Happened
Virginia starter Joe Savino had his stuff working early in the contest, setting down the Quakers' top-of-the-order down 1-2-3 in the first.
 
Cole Zaffiro looked solid in his first inning of work, retiring the Cavaliers in order on 14 pitches. He struck out the final batter he faced, Casey Saucke, swinging.
 
In the second, Virginia put two runners on base to begin the inning against Zaffiro and were all driven in on a three-run homer to left field, making it a 3-0 game.
 
After Zaffiro bounced back in the third with a 1-2-3 frame, Penn got its first run of the contest in the fourth on a one-out double from Davis Baker down the left-field line. With two away, Nick Spaventa drove in Baker with a single to center field to cut into UVA's lead at 3-2. Zaffiro worked himself out of a bases-loaded jam in the bottom of the fourth inning after walking two and hitting another.
 
Penn managed just one baserunner—a Baker walk in the sixth inning—over the next three stanzas while Zaffiro continued to limit damage in the sixth to leave two runners on base.
 
Eli Trop took over the reins in the bottom of the seventh inning, giving up a leadoff single to Griff O'Ferrall. Ethan Anderson ended up driving in O'Ferrall on a double down the right-field line to extend the Cavs' lead to 4-2.
 
Pinch hitting for Justin Neskie in the eighth inning, Asa Wilson came through with a second-pitch single to right center, but was left stranded after Nate Polo (strikeout), Chavez (F8), and Henseler (strikeout) went down in order.
 
Trop allowed two runners on base during the eighth inning, but he made a spectacular play at first base to end the threat and send the Quakers to the top of the ninth trailing by two runs. With the 3-4-5 hitters due up in the ninth for the Red and Blue, Chase Hungate began his third inning of work in dominant fashion, retiring Baker, Ryan Taylor, and Spaventa in order to seal the Cavs' 4-2 win.
 
Up Next
Penn plays St. John's in an elimination game Saturday at noon. The third-seeded Red Storm fell to second-seeded Mississippi State, 5-2, in Friday's nightcap.
 
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