March 31, 2007

Box Score (Game 1) | Box Score (Game 2)

BABSON PARK, Mass. - Junior Sam Whelan (Milton, Mass.) tossed a one-hitter to lead the Babson College baseball team to a 5-0 win over the visiting U.S. Coast Guard Academy Bears in game one of a NEWMAC baseball doubleheader on Saturday afternoon. Coast Guard (7-8, 2-2 NEWMAC) then bounced back to take game two from Babson (7-4, 1-1 NEWMAC), 7-3, to earn a split.

Whelan completely overpowered the Bears in game one, as he retired 21 of the 23 batters he faced, including eight by strikeout. He allowed just two baserunners in seven innings, the first on an infield single by senior tri-captain Bret Nichols (Glendale, Calif.) in the third and the second when junior Ken Franklin (Corfu, N.Y.) reached on a two-out error in the fourth. Nichols would get as far as third base with two outs in the third, but Whelan recorded a strikeout to end the inning. The shutout improved the junior righthander's season record to 3-0 while dropping his team-leading ERA to 0.51.

Babson manufactured the first run of the game without a hit in the bottom of the first, as junior Steve Tahmoush (Arlington, Mass.) walked, stole second, moved to third on a ground out by senior tri-captain Billy Schmitt (Fairview, N.J.), and scored on a sacrifice fly to center by junior Matt Delaney (Newton, Mass.).

The Beavers tacked on three more runs in the second, highlighted by a two-run triple to left by senior Billy Lucas (Acworth, Ga.). Lucas then scored on a sacrifice fly to right by senior tri-captain Andrew Collins (South Boston, Mass.) to make it 4-0, and the Beavers added another run when Collins singled in senior tri-captain Ryan Campbell (Manchester, N.H.) in the sixth to finish off the 5-0 victory.

Lucas and first-year Jake Bartlett (Weymouth, Mass.) recorded two hits apiece in the win for Babson. Junior Jason Pitchford (Mena, Ark.) went the distance for Coast Guard, giving up five runs, four earned, on seven hits, walking two and striking out three. He fell to 2-1 on the year.

Game two saw Babson jump out to a 3-0 lead in the bottom of the first, but Coast Guard junior hurler Will Becker (Rockaway Beach, N.Y.) settled down to blank the Beavers over the final eight innings as his team rallied for a 7-3 triumph. The Bears scored two runs in the second on back-to-back RBI groundouts by junior Kevin Higgins (Plymouth, Mass.) and sophomore Brian Yurovich (Marlboro, Mass.), and then took the lead on a two-run homer to right-center by senior tri-captain Chuck Arena (Houston, Texas) in the third. Junior Christian George (Rumson, N.J.) and Arena each added RBI singles in a two-run fifth that gave Coast Guard a 6-3 lead, and first-year Keith Laird (West Chester, Pa.) capped the scoring when he singled and later scored on a wild pitch in the ninth.

Babson's three runs all came in the bottom of the first, as Tahmoush and Schmitt recorded back-to-back singles to start the inning. An errant throw to third on a double-steal allowed Tahmoush to cross the plate with the game's first run, and, after a walk and a hit batter loaded the bases, Campbell plated two more with a line drive single to left. That would be all the scoring the Beavers would muster against Becker, however, as he went all nine innings, allowing three runs on 10 hits while striking out nine to improve to 3-0 on the season.

Sophomore Jeff Wojnar (Bellaire, Texas) started and went seven innings for Babson, allowing six runs on seven hits, walking two and fanning three. The loss dropped his record to 1-2 this spring.