Penn looks to recapture its NCAA baseball tournament form after rough start to season

Penn’s baseball team had the kind of magical run last season that middling programs dream of, earning its first NCAA regional berth in 28 years. When the Quakers got there, they knocked out Southeastern Conference heavyweight Auburn on its home field in an 11-inning thriller for their first regional victory in 33 years.

Now the program is in the throes of a follow-up campaign that got off to a rocky start.

After a 4-8 road swing to start the season, Penn (11-9) has started to look more like the team that made a surprising run in the NCAA Tournament last season. Since returning home, the Quakers have returned to form, winning eight of their last nine after opening Ivy League play on Friday with a doubleheader sweep of Brown and adding another win over the Bears on Sunday.

“It’s a new group. It’s a new season,” coach John Yurkow said. “As fun as it was, it’s all in the past. It’s time for our new group of guys to make their mark on the program.”

Penn catchers have been plagued by injuries. Junior starter Asa Wilson has a thumb injury, freshman Qwynn Ahearn has been dealing with a hand injury, and sophomore Reed Farrell is coming back from Tommy John elbow surgery in November.

The pitchers also struggled early. Penn had an 8.30 ERA during its road swing, allowing nine or more runs in six of the 12 games.

“They’ve [the older pitchers] done it for a while and have a pretty good track record, so I’m hoping that those guys can kind of start turning the corner,” Yurkow said.

There’s still more progress to be made, but since returning home the Quakers have improved. Penn pitchers combined for a 4.29 ERA since the trip. Standouts on the mound have been seniors Carson Ozmer, who has given up one earned run over 12⅓ innings, and Cole Zaffiro.

Zaffiro was a first team All-Ivy selection last season with a 6-2 record and a 3.13 ERA. He got off to a rough start to the season, but he followed up six shutout innings in a win over Lafayette on March 16 with seven scoreless and 11 strikeouts against Brown in the first game of a doubleheader on Friday.

“I think our heads are all in the right space,” said senior third baseman Wyatt Henseler. “Even though we’ve gone through some little hiccups early on, I think it’s just battle tested us for the end of the year.”

Six of the Quakers’ nine starters from last season are back, but one who just came into the program is quickly making a name for himself.

Freshman first baseman Nick Spaventa has begun his college career on a tear, batting .361 with four home runs and 17 RBIs.

“Early on, as I’ve gotten into a really good weekly routine, I’ve just seen growth each week,” Spaventa said. “The coaching in general has made a lot of adjustments, and I think both those things really contribute to how I’ve been able to perform so far.”

Yurkow said the 6-foot-1, 210-pound Spaventa might already be the strongest guy on the team.

“He’s got a really unique ability for a freshman to adjust in at-bats and shorten up with two strikes to get the bat on the ball,” Yurkow said. “He’s hit some light-tower home runs already this year, kind of jaw-dropping homers. He’s going to be a really special player for us.”

When it comes to jaw-dropping homers, Henseler might just be the king. Earlier this month, Henseler set the Ivy League’s home run record with the 35th of his career. Now he’s at 42, including 10 this season.

“I’m never prioritizing anything like that. I’m just really trying to be a simpleminded hitter,” he said. “My goal is never to put it out over the fence. That was never my game growing up, either. I was always taught to be a gap-to-gap hitter, just drive the ball up the middle. I feel like if you just start trying to think about cool, big home runs and stuff like that, you end up trying to do too much.”

Other standouts hitters for Penn this season are sophomore shortstop Davis Baker (.357), junior second baseman Connor Chavez (.307), sophomore right fielder Jarrett Pokrovsky (.284), and sophomore center fielder Ryan Taylor (.288).