PHILADELPHIA – The #QuakeShow is back! The University of Pennsylvania baseball teams begins play in the 2025 season this weekend, heading south to Tallahassee, Fla. for a three-game series at No. 9 Florida State.
 
In what will be the first meetings between the Quakers and Seminoles in program history, first pitch on Opening Day is set for 5 p.m. from Mike Martin Field at Dick Howser Stadium. Saturday is slated to begin at 2 p.m. with a new start time of 1 p.m. on Sunday (the game was originally scheduled for noon).
 
GAME 1-3: Penn (0-0, 0-0 Ivy) at #9 Florida State (4-0, 0-0 ACC)
February 21-23 | Mike Martin Field at Dick Howser Stadium | Tallahassee, Fla.
Watch (ACCNX): Game 1, Game 2, Game 3 | Live Stats: Game 1, Game 2, Game 3
 
Let's Get It Started!
It's been a long eight months since Penn last took the field at the University of Virginia for the Charlottesville Regional, but the Quakers are eager to get the new season started looking for their fourth consecutive Ivy League title and third straight berth into a NCAA regional.
 
The team begins play down south for the fourth straight year after opening the campaign at Texas A&M in 2022, South Carolina in 2023, and Abilene Christian last year.
 
All three of those seasons have produced 20+ win teams including 33 in 2022 and 34 in 2023.
 
Preseason No. 2
Despite winning the Ivy League Tournament in each of the last two campaigns, Penn was voted second in this week's preseason poll with 101 points.
 
Columbia, last year's regular-season champion, was unanimously voted the preseason favorite with 128 points and all 16 first-place votes.
 
The Lions claimed the regular-season series against the Quakers in 2024, but Penn had the last laugh by handing top-seeded Columbia a first-game defeat to begin the ILT in New York City.
 
Returning All-Ivy
The W. Joseph Blood Head Coach John Yurkow will certainly miss several players from last year's championship team including the 2024 Ivy League Player of the Year Wyatt Henseler (.360/.755/.465) and All-Ivy starters Cole Zaffiro (5-5, 4.94 ERA) and Ryan Dromboski (3-5, 7.57).
 
But a bulk of the starting lineup—that led the Ivy League in hits—returns this season led by All-Ivy returners Davis Baker (.319/.521/.393) and Ryan Taylor (.308/.473/.406).
 
At The Plate
*Baker, who finished third on the team in batting average (.318) in 2024, enters the weekend on a 16-game hitting streak carrying over from last season.
 
*Penn returns just three hitters batting over .300 last season including Baker (.319), Taylor (.308) and Nick Spaventa (.318). Asa Wilson was right on the cusp at .297, while Connor Chavez hit .281, followed by Gavin Collins (.274) and Jarrett Pokrovsky (.273).
 
*40 percent of Penn's 55 home runs from 2024 are gone after Wyatt Henseler (22) graduated following one of the best seasons in program history. Baker and Spaventa both smashed seven long balls, with four for Pokrovsky and three each for Chavez and Taylor.
 
*The Quakers stole 60 bases last season with the three returning players—Baker (14), Taylor (13), and Pokrovsky (10)—reaching double digits. Both Baker and Taylor finished in the top 5 among Ivy players in that category.
 
*Baker's hitting streak is impressive, but there are four Quakers heading into the weekend with reached base streaks of 10 games or more. Baker's streak is the same at 16 games, followed by Chavez (11), Spaventa (11), and Pokrovsky (10).
 
*The infield will look largely the same as it did in 2024 with Baker playing shortstop, Chavez at second base, and Spaventa at first. But following the departure of four-year starter and two-time All-America selection Henseler at third base, there will be a couple players looking to take that job over. Both Pokrovsky and sophomore Nick O'Brien are slated to spend time at the hot corner.
 
*Taylor (center field) and Collins (left field) are two regulars from last season poised to remain in their respective positions. There will almost certainly be a battle for the starting right field spot with a platoon of Nate Polo, Gavin Degnan, Nick Guachione, Cole McGonigal, and Andrew Ruggeri expected.
 
On The Mound
*As mentioned earlier, the starting rotation will look a wee bit different after the graduation of Cole Zaffiro and the undrafted free-agent signing of Ryan Dromboski.
 
*Senior Will Tobin (2-4, 4.81 ERA), who came on strong in the postseason, and sophomore Josh Katz (2-4, 7.41) are two names expected to see time in the rotation. Noah Millikan (0-1, 6.94) played just seven games in 2024 due to injury, but is healthy ahead of his senior season.
 
*It will be difficult to replace consistently successful back-end arms like Carson Ozmer (2-1, 4.02) and Eli Trop (3-2, 3.33), but the Quakers are excited to welcome back pitchers like Thomas Shurtleff (1-0, 4.13), John Cerwinski (1-1, 11.03), Marshall Mott (0-0, 6.55), and Jake Moss (2-0, 9.53) to help fill those voids.
 
*In Wednesday's season preview story for PennAthletics.com, Yurkow said he expects to see plenty of innings go around for freshman pitchers like Connor Darling and Aidan von Zuben.
 
Scouting The Seminoles
Ninth-ranked Florida State enters this weekend with a perfect 4-0 record after sweeping James Madison last weekend and taking a mid-week contest at South Florida on Tuesday night.
 
The Seminoles went to Omaha as a College World Series team in 2024, beating both Virginia and North Carolina before falling to eventual national champion Tennessee, 7-2, in the national semifinals.
 
So far, four hitters are batting with averages over .300 including Alex Lodise (.444), Drew Faurot (.412), Gage Harrelson (.375) and Chase Williams (.333). Max Williams and Faurot both have hit a team-leading two home runs to begin the year.
 
On the mound, junior left-hander Jamie Arnold (1-0, 0.00 ERA) enters the weekend as one of the nation's most prolific starting pitchers. In his first start of the season last Friday night vs. JMU, Arnold struck out eight Dukes over six shutout innings of work, allowing just one hit in his outing.
 
Arnold earned first-team All-America honors by four publications (Perfect Game, ABCA, NCBWA, and D1Baseball) in 2024 and was a semifinalist for both the Dick Howser Trophy and Golden Spikes Award.
 
The Seminoles come into this weekend with a pitching staff ERA of 0.77 over 35.0 innings. Starters Arnold, Joey Volini (1-0, 0.00), Wes Mendes (1-0, 0.00), and John Abraham (1-0, 0.00) have not allowed a run yet this season, while the staff has struck out a total of 49 batters and surrendered just nine walks.
 
Follow The Action
All three games this weekend will be streamed live through ACC Network Extra with an ESPN+ subscription. Live stats will also be provided throughout the weekend.
 
For the latest on Penn baseball, follow @PennBaseball on X (formerly Twitter), @Penn_Baseball on Instagram, and on the web at PennAthletics.com.