Philly Leader

The University of Pennsylvania baseball team faced a challenging start to their NCAA regional opener against Virginia, resulting in a 4-2 loss on Friday afternoon at Davenport Field at Disharoon Park. The Quakers, with a record of 24-24, will now confront St. John's in an elimination game scheduled for Saturday at noon. Meanwhile, the Cavaliers improved their season standing to 42-15 and are set to play Mississippi State on Saturday night.

In this encounter, Penn's pitchers Cole Zaffiro and Eli Trop managed to contain Virginia's strong offense, which is ranked second nationally in batting average. The Cavaliers entered the weekend with a .341 team batting average and an average of 9.7 runs per game. Despite this challenge, Zaffiro allowed only three runs on four hits over six innings but was charged with the loss.

On the offensive side, Penn struggled against Virginia's pitching staff, managing just four hits. Davis Baker contributed an RBI double in the fourth inning for Penn's sole extra-base hit. Unfortunately for Wyatt Henseler, his streak of reaching base in 32 consecutive games ended as he went 0-for-4 with three strikeouts.

Zaffiro aimed to break Penn’s all-time strikeout record but fell short by one strikeout after securing four Ks during the game. He remains one strikeout away from tying Craig Connolly’s record of 227 career strikeouts.

Virginia's Joe Savino began strongly by retiring Penn’s top-of-the-order batters in the first inning. The Cavaliers then took advantage in the second inning when they scored three runs through a home run after placing two runners on base against Zaffiro.

Penn responded in the fourth inning when Baker hit a double followed by Nick Spaventa driving him home with a single, narrowing Virginia’s lead to 3-2. However, Virginia extended their lead to 4-2 after Ethan Anderson drove Griff O'Ferrall home with a double down the right-field line.

In the ninth inning, Chase Hungate closed out the win for Virginia by retiring Baker, Ryan Taylor, and Spaventa consecutively.

Following this defeat, Penn will face St. John’s who lost to Mississippi State earlier that day with a score of 5-2.

For more updates on Penn baseball activities and games, fans can follow @PennBaseball on X (formerly Twitter), @Penn_Baseball on Instagram or visit their website at PennAthletics.com.