Here’s how Penn looks to retool after a baseball season that ‘made history’

The final out of the 2023 Ivy League baseball tournament was a pop fly to Penn’s first baseman, Ben Miller.

The 652 fans in attendance on May 22 watched Miller track the ball into shallow right field at the Quakers’ stadium. As soon as he snared it in his glove, the players in blue jerseys streamed out of the Penn dugout to dog pile on their closer, Carson Ozmer.

The 16-3 win over Princeton that secured Penn first berth to the NCAA baseball tournament since 1995 wasn’t in doubt for much of the day: Penn scored 13 runs in the first four innings. But what the Quakers did two weeks later at the NCAA regional in Auburn, Ala., certainly surprised people — at least those who haven’t been paying attention to Penn’s program for the last few years.

“We made history,” coach John Yurkow said shortly after Penn’s elimination from the NCAA tournament. “I’m really proud of what these guys did. Especially the assistant coaches — just a really good group of guys, and really good leaders. They’re not just baseball coaches. And I’m really fortunate to work with those guys every day.”

Penn’s season ended in the regional final Monday after its second straight loss to Southern Miss. But the Quakers racked up achievements along the way. They became the first Ivy League team to beat an SEC team in the NCAA tournament with their 6-3, 11-inning victory over Auburn on the Tigers’ home field. They were the first Ivy League team to win its first two games of an NCAA regional. And Penn’s 34-16 record gave the Quakers the most wins in program history.

» READ MORE: What’s propelled No. 1 Penn baseball to the top of nearly every Ivy League stat? Pitching.

But now that the season is over, what does Penn’s future look like?

Nine Quakers have graduated, including four starting position players: Miller, second baseman Cole Palis, catcher Jackson Appel, and center fielder Seth Werchan. The graduation of left-hander Owen Coady, a key starter in Penn’s weekend rotation, will also leave a gap.

This group of graduated seniors has played only two full seasons at Penn. Most will be spending extra years of eligibility at other institutions because of the Ivy League rule that precludes them from playing at Penn as graduate students. Miller will head to Duke, Appel to Texas A&M, Werchan to Texas, Coady to Virginia. From the bullpen, Brian Zeldin is off to Georgia, and David Shoemaker to Virginia Tech.

“I can’t say enough good things about the senior leadership on this team,” Yurkow said. “Just watching those guys mature, and get everybody rallied around the same common goal.”

But the well has not run dry. Penn returns the Ivy League pitcher of the year, Ryan Dromboski, and first-team All-Ivy starting pitcher Cole Zaffiro. And the Quakers have a strong recent history of developing pitchers. Dromboski made the transition from reliever to starter this season and quickly became one of the most dependable arms in the conference. Carson Ozmer, a two-way player with a 1.83 ERA through 34⅓ innings, also returns as a crucial member of Penn’s bullpen.

» READ MORE: Penn baseball advances to first NCAA Tournament since 1995 with rout of Princeton

During the season, Penn’s midweek, nonconference games are typically bullpen games, allowing pitchers outside of the weekend rotation to face live hitters and gain confidence in lower-stakes situations as they look to make that transition to starter.

“If you’re lucky, and deep enough, which we have been this year, you can put guys in situations that aren’t too big for them both from stage standpoint and from how many outs they need to get standpoint,” pitching coach Josh Schwartz said. “So we’ve been lucky. We’ve been grooming a starter that’s a freshman right now. He’s been able to take on some midweeks and get really good starting experience.”

Wyatt Henseler, Penn’s third baseman and career leader in home runs, is able to return as a senior, although he is eligible for the 2023 MLB draft.

Vital for the Quakers’ future is their freshman trio of Davis Baker, Jarrett Pokrovsky, and Ryan Taylor, who all started in the field this year and hit one after the other in the lineup. Baker, a shortstop, finished second-team All-Ivy and third on the team in batting average (.316), OPS (.893), and slugging percentage (.497). Pokrovsky and Taylor typically play in the outfield, although Taylor filled in at second base during the Auburn Regional.

“[The freshmen] have matured tremendously,” Henseler said ahead of the regional. “I mean, having three freshman hitters in a row is, I think, at first a little concerning, but it’s become the least concern I think we’ve had. I think they’ve been so consistent, and they’ve really matured as the season’s gone on. We’ve all grown super confident in them, and I think they’ve gotten super confident themselves as the season’s progressed.”

While Penn will lose at least nine familiar faces for 2024, the Quakers won’t be starting from scratch as they look to build on the history made this year at the Ivy League tournament and the NCAA regional.