Penn baseball claims fourth-straight Ivy League Rookie of the Week award

Penn baseball has been on a hot streak as of late. The team recently completed a three-game sweep of Dartmouth and an 18-6 blowout win against St. Joe's — giving the team four straight wins in as many days. The Quakers are now 14-10 on the season and 4-2 in Ivy League play.

There’s even more to look forward to with impressive performances coming from some younger, up-and-coming players. Specifically, freshmen infielders Ryan Taylor and Davis Baker have been consistent bright spots throughout this season, and have been outperforming expectations.

Taylor, an infielder from Elmer, N.J., had one of his best games all year in a dominant 15-5 win against Villanova in mid-March. Taylor hit two doubles and a triple, scoring a total of three runs. He currently holds a .272 batting average and has two home runs — both of which came in the team's series at Harvard. 

His infielding has been equally as strong as he holds a perfect fielding percentage, and a total of 20 assists on the season. Additionally, Taylor has recorded 37 putouts — yet another testament to his excellent defense.

Baker is a fellow infielder, and has also been tearing up the stat sheet. Perhaps his best performance was in the team's matchup with St. Joe’s. Baker tallied three hits and three runs. Baker has the fourth-highest RBIs (21) and total bases (48) on the team. 

He has proved to be an important piece of the Quakers' offense time and time again. He’s earned three Ivy League Rookie of the Week titles in just four weeks, with the most recent one coming after he scored four RBIs against Dartmouth to seal the sweep on April 3. Who earned it that other week? Penn's very own, Taylor.

As conference play starts to flood the schedule, the Quakers will need as many contributors as they can get as they hunt for an Ivy League title that narrowly escaped them last year. Penn will face Princeton in a three-game series starting with a doubleheader on April 8.