Penn baseball wins pair of weekly conference awards

After going 3-1 over the past week, Penn baseball saw a pair of athletes receive Ivy League honors, with sophomore outfielder Ryan Taylor named the conference's Player of the Week and senior right-handed pitcher Cole Zaffiro selected as Pitcher of the Week. This marks the fourth consecutive week that a Quaker has been honored by the Ancient Eight. 

Taylor was consistently excellent as a hitter over the past week, getting a hit in each game to extend his hitting streak to five. On Wednesday, in Penn's home-opening win over Villanova, Taylor hit 3-4 with four RBIs, setting a new career high. Over the course of the week, he had a batting average of .529 and an OPS of 1.344, with three runs, eight RBIs, and 13 total bases. And in Sunday's 22-8 rout of Lafayette, Taylor hit two doubles to help the Quakers win the series. 

Even though Zaffiro only appeared once this week, his start was a marvelous one. In six innings, he only gave up four hits and didn't allow a run to score. Zaffiro's efforts were crucial in helping the Quakers open their series with an 8-1 win on Saturday. Furthermore, Zaffiro notched nine strikeouts, which are the most the senior has accumulated since last season. Through four starts, Zaffiro has thrown 21 strikeouts in 19 innings, both of which are team highs. 

After a rough stretch to start the season, this week's victories moved Penn closer to .500 on the year, as the Quakers now sit at 7-9 overall. With Ivy League play set to start this weekend with a series against Brown at Meiklejohn Stadium following a non-conference game Wednesday against Lehigh, Penn appears to be building momentum at the right time.