SPRINGFIELD, Mass.—Senior Chris Kucher (Westwood, Mass.) went 4-for-5 with three doubles and a triple, two runs scored and four runs batted in to help visiting Babson College take the opening game of a weekend series against Springfield College, 7-3, on Friday afternoon in New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) baseball action at Berry-Allen Field.

With its third consecutive victory, Babson moves to 10-8 overall and 4-5 in NEWMAC play while Springfield drops to 7-10 overall and 4-7 in the conference.

Senior Trevor Boyce (Canton, Mass.) had three hits and classmates Michael Duffy (Milton, Mass.) and Conor Kortmann (Manalapan, N.J.), along with sophomore Dillon Gonzalez (Beverly, Mass.) each picked up two hits apiece. Boyce and Duffy each scored a pair of runs and Kortmann had two RBI in support of junior Derek Richards (Framingham, Mass.), who gave up two earned runs and seven hits while striking out 11 over 8 2/3 innings to earn his second win of the season. First-year Nick Ahearn (Norfolk, Mass.) got the final out of the game to earn his first career save.

Babson took a 1-0 lead in the top of the second inning when Gonzalez brought home sophomore Sean MacPhee (Framingham, Mass.) with a one-out single to right field. The Beavers extended their lead with a pair of runs in the third inning as Duffy drew a one-out walk and Kucher and Kortmann followed with back-to-back RBI doubles to take a 3-0 advantage.

The Pride got on the board in the bottom of the fourth inning as junior Frank Calabrese (East Longmeadow, Mass.), who led off the frame with a walk, later scored on a wild pitch to cut the Babson lead to 3-1. An inning later, Calabrese singled home sophomore Steve Starr (Lebanon, Conn.) to pull within a run after five innings.

That would be as close as Springfield would get, though, as the Beavers regained their two-run lead in the top of the seventh inning when Kucher smacked a two-out double to left center field, plating Boyce for a 4-2 lead. Kucher struck again in the top of the ninth, this time with a one-out triple to score Boyce and Duffy, and Kortmann followed with a single to right field to give Babson its biggest lead of the day at 7-2.

Calabrese led Springfield with a pair of hits and two RBI on the afternoon. Starting pitcher, senior Greg Marakovitz (Rocky Hill, Conn.), was tagged for seven earned runs and 15 hits in 8 1/3 innings of work, dropping to 0-3 on the season.

The teams will be back in action tomorrow afternoon when they complete the three-game series with a doubleheader at Babson. First pitch is set for 12:00pm at Govoni Field.