PHILADELPHIA – Playing good baseball as of late following four consecutive victories, the University of Pennsylvania baseball team begins Ivy League play this weekend, hosting Harvard at Tommy Lasorda Field at Meiklejohn Stadium with a doubleheader Saturday at 11:30 a.m. and a single game Sunday at noon.
 
This is the second time in three seasons Penn is playing Harvard in the Ivy opener, dropping two of three games to the Crimson in Cambridge back in 2023.
 
GAME 15-17: Penn (5-9, 0-0 Ivy) vs. Harvard (0-13, 0-0 Ivy)
March 22-23 | Tommy Lasorda Field at Meiklejohn Stadium | Philadelphia, Pa.
Watch (ESPN+) | Live Stats – Game 1, Game 2, Game 3 | Program (PDF)
 
The Harvard Series
After this weekend's series, Penn and Harvard will have met over 200 times, as the two historic schools get set for matchups No. 199, 200, and 201 in Philadelphia.
 
The Crimson have a healthy 116-81-1 lead in the all-time series, but the Quakers have won six of the last 10 games in the series dating back to the 2022 season.
 
In Philly, Harvard leads with a 53-41-1 mark. Penn has not won a series at home against the Crimson since 2017.
 
Lehigh Valley Sweep!
Well, the #QuakeShow had no issues with the last four games in a three-game sweep of Lafayette in Easton and then a 19-2 rout of Lehigh in Bethlehem on Wednesday to bring momentum into the first Ivy League series of the season.
 
Penn scored 47 runs over the four games including a season-high 19 against the Mountain Hawks, doing so on 21 hits and four home runs.
 
The last two games have been shortened including Sunday at Lafayette (darkness) and Wednesday at Lehigh (10-run rule).
 
Ryan Taylor (.438) led the offense with seven hits, three triples, and five RBIs in the four-game stretch while Jarrett Pokrovsky launched two long balls and drove in six runs. Wednesday was freshman Michael Powell's debutante ball, batting 4-for-5 at the dish with three doubles, four runs, and two RBIs.
 
Pitching-wise, all three of Tommy Delany, John Cerwinski, and Thomas Shurtleff appeared twice and did not allow a run.
 
At The Plate
Taylor has unequivocally led the Penn offense through the first extended run of the season, batting .340 (17-for-50) with a home run, three doubles, three triples, and eight RBIs. He's also led the team with six stolen bases in seven attempts.
 
Qwynn Ahearn is also batting above the .300 mark with a .316 average (12-for-38) with three homers, a double, triple, 10 runs scored, and 10 RBIs. His 1.067 OPS (.435/.632) is a team high.
 
Davis Baker may only be hitting .224 so far this year, but he's been raking in the last week, batting .381 (8-for-21) over the last five games with two homers, five runs driven in, five runs scored along with a double and a triple. His 11 RBIs this season are good for second on the team, while Pokrovsky leads the Quakers in that category (12) along with his .283 average.
 
Taylor is among the nation's leaders in triples, ranked 13th in total three-baggers (3) and fifth in triples per game (0.21). Pokrovsky ranks 78th nationally for doubles per game (0.43).
 
On The Mound
Pitching is getting better day-by-day, especially out of the bullpen.
 
Shurtleff (0-2, 1.23 ERA) and Cerwinski (0-1, 3.52) have been the designated back-end guys, combining for four saves with two each, while Jake Moss (0-0, 4.00) is right behind despite appearing in just four games.
 
There really hasn't been any stopping of freshman Sebastian Haggard (1-0, 3.00), leading the Quakers with 21 strikeouts, only walking four in 15.0 innings of work.
 
Noah Millikan (0-1, 8.44) has become the Quakers' series-opening starting pitcher, striking out 12 batters in his first two starts. He's struck out 18 batters in 16.0 innings.
 
Scouting The Crimson
Harvard is still in search of its first win of the 2025 season after dropping 13 consecutive games to open the year.
 
In that opening stretch, the Crimson played tough opponents like Northwestern, Indiana, Michigan State and No. 7 Florida. Harvard dropped a midweek at Bryant on Tuesday after falling in three straight games against Northeastern over the weekend.
 
Matt Giberti is leading Harvard in average (.276), runs (5), on-base percentage (.364) and stolen bases (5) to begin the season. George Cooper is the team's leader in RBIs (10), total bases (19), and slugging percentage (.422), while Jordan Kang has a team-leading two home runs.
 
On the mound, Callan Fang (0-2) leads the team with a 2.70 ERA, while Truman Pauley (0-3, 6.41) has thrown 19.2 innings over four starts with a team-high 22 strikeouts. Hitters are batting .214 against him.
 
Follow The Action
All three games this weekend will be streamed live on ESPN+ with Cory Nidoh on the play-by-play call. Live stats will also be provided.
 
For the latest on Penn baseball, follow @PennBaseball on X (formerly Twitter), @Penn_Baseball on Instagram, and on the web at PennAthletics.com.