BOX SCORE

RUTLAND, Vt. -- The Babson College ice hockey team erupted for a season-high seven goals, including four on the powerplay, as the Beavers blasted host Castleton State College, 7-2, in an ECAC East contest at the Rutland Regional Fieldhouse on Friday night.

With the win, Babson improved to 7-9-1 overall and 6-6-0 in conference play, while Castleton dropped to 8-8-2 and 4-6-2 in conference.

Castleton opened the scoring 3:04 into the contest as Omar Pacha netted his eighth goal of the season off a Brandon Heck assist. Babson responded with a pair of unanswered goals in the period as senior captain Brad Baldelli and junior Jason Schneider each tallied within two minutes of each other to give the Beavers the lead heading into the first intermission.

Heck evened the score at 2-2 just 1:45 into the second period, but it was all Babson from that point on as the Beavers netted four straight scores to end the period. Senior JT Balben scored the game winner just 31 seconds after the Heck score and was followed in succession by scores from junior Casey Fazekas, Schneider and first-year Mike Hoban. Junior Shane Farrell tacked on an insurance goal with 9:15 remaining in the game to round out the scoring.

First-year goalie Andrew Peabody stopped 22 shots to pick up the win in net for Babson, while Seth McNary was tagged with the loss, stopping 15 shots in two periods of play. Jay Seal relieved McNary and made 11 saves.

In addition to his two goals, Schneider also added an assist for the Beavers. Babson also received a monster game from its defensemen, as senior Alex DiPietro amassed a career-high five assists, Fazekas added one goal and three assists, and junior Gabriel Chenard-Poirier chipped in with two assists.

Both teams return to the ice tomorrow afternoon with Castleton playing host to UMass-Boston and Babson traveling to Skidmore.