This ‘gritty’ Penn team is back in the Ivy League baseball tournament. Here’s how it got there.
Despite having a rough stretch against nonconference opponents, the Quakers sit in first place in the Ivy League standings. They'll make their fourth straight Ivy League tournament appearance.
After opening the season on a six-game losing streak, Penn baseball is back in the Ivy League tournament.
On Saturday, the Quakers (20-20) ended their regular season with a series win over Brown. They swept a doubleheader to overtake the Bears in the Ivy League standings, which moved them into first place and one step closer to the program’s first regular-season title since 2023.
The Quakers were predicted to finish third in the Ivy League preseason poll. Now, they await the results of the Yale-Dartmouth series to see if they will claim first place and home-field advantage in the Ivy League tournament from May 15 to 18.
“A lot of people ask us, ‘What team do you not want to play?’” said freshman pitcher Ben Moulin. “‘What team are you trying to avoid?’ But I think the right answer is that no one wants to play the Quakes right now — Quakers are hot.”
Ahead of their fourth straight playoff appearance, here’s what to know about this year’s team:
Pitchers galore
Moulin was on the mound for the Quakers’ regular season finale. He’s having a breakout season and earned the start after Thomas Shurtleff, Jake Moss, and Marty Coyne threw earlier in the series.
“He started as a midweek guy, and then we had a couple injuries, and now he’s honestly one of our best pitchers,” second baseman Ryan Taylor said. “He just competes out there, and he doesn’t act like a freshman at all. You would think he’s a senior if you didn’t know him.”
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Moulin has a 3.03 ERA in 15 appearances, including eight starts. But Shurtleff is the most dominant and consistent pitcher for Penn.
The right-hander is second in the Ivy League with a 2.95 ERA. Coyne (4.29 ERA), Moss (5.79 ERA), and Shurtleff have a combined 15 wins — the most of any trio in the Ivy League.
Ahead of the Ivy playoffs, Penn is hoping to stay healthy. Moss was injured during the Quakers’ series sweep against Harvard on April 25 and 26 before returning against Brown. Shurtleff was relieved early in the series opener against the Bears.
“I had to come out in the first game,” Shurtleff said. “Something we’ve been working on the whole week. And we got to a point where we felt comfortable throwing, and something felt off on one of the pitches, and tried to fight through it, but I wasn’t helping the team, so it was time for me to get out and give opportunities to the guys, and they did an outstanding job.”
Finding runs
Penn has just one starter hitting over .300 this season, but it still finds ways to score. The Quakers lead the Ivy League in walks and is second in steals. Taylor and Jay Secretarski rank first and fourth in the league in steals with 32 and 20, respectively.
First basemen Nick Spaventa and outfielder Gavin Degnan also have helped out at the plate and combined for 15 home runs and 77 RBIs.
“We’re gritty,” Taylor said. “We’re not going to hit 1,000 home runs, but I feel like we play the game the right way, and we’re an exciting team.”
Degnan added: “It’s honestly off the field. We just love each other a whole lot. We spend so much time together and work hard together, and it’s just trusting every single guy, and we work too hard not to succeed.”
Playoffs
Penn has seen its fair share of success in recent years, including Ivy League tournament titles in 2023 and 2024, but after losing in 2025 to Columbia and Yale in the Bulldogs’ stadium — the Quakers prefer to play their playoff games at home.
Yale sits in second place with a 11-6-1 Ivy League record. It would have to sweep its series against Dartmouth to move ahead of Penn. Along with Penn, Brown, Columbia, and Yale have clinched spots in the tournament.
“We’re rooting for Dartmouth this weekend,” Degnan said.