Baseball vs. Roger Williams
Wednesday, May 2—3:30 p.m.
Govoni Field—Babson Park, Mass.
THE SERIES
Babson and Roger Williams will meet for the eighth time in the last nine years on Wednesday afternoon. The Beavers are 4-3 all-time against the Hawks and have won four of the last five in a series that dates back to 2010.
LAST MEETING
Shawn Cariglio homered and Kevin Baker was 3-for-5 with a pair of doubles and two runs batted in to help Roger Williams defeat the Beavers, 10-8, on March 31, 2016, in Babson Park. Jake Weiss '17 and junior Eric Jaun both doubled and finished with two hits apiece for Babson, which scored five times in the seventh inning to pull within a run.
LAST BABSON WIN
Joe Barry '16 drove in the go-ahead run as part of a three-run seventh inning to lift Babson to a 7-4 victory over Roger Williams on April 3, 2014, in Babson Park. Rob Caggiano '15 went 3-for-4 with three stolen bases and Dillon Gonzalez '15 added two hits, two runs scored and three stolen bases for the Beavers, who got four innings of one-hit relief from Brody Loughlin.
SCOUTING THE HAWKS
Roger Williams (19-18) snapped a three-game skid with a 6-5 win in the back end of a doubleheader on Tuesday afternoon. Danny Roth homered and had two RBI and George Somers singled in the go-ahead run in the bottom of the seventh for the Hawks. Chris Bosco is batting .309 with six extra-base hits and 13 runs batted in, Dean DePrata is hitting .281 with eight doubles and 14 runs scored, and Roth has team highs of 10 extra-base hits and 22 runs driven in despite a .238 average. Sam Bennett is 4-2 with a 2.17 ERA in eight starts, while Matt Vernacatola is 3-2 with one save and a 2.21 ERA in 15 relief appearances.
SCOUTING THE BEAVERS
Babson (28-10) has won seven consecutive games after topping Salem State, 6-3, on Tuesday. Junior Connor Gill hit a solo homer and classmate Nicholas Browne added a three-run blast for the Beavers, who are one victory away from tying their single-season program record. Senior Ryan Arena is batting .362 with 13 doubles, nine homers and 42 runs batted in, sophomore Jake Oliger is hitting .347 with nine extra-base hits and 32 RBI, and junior Brian McHale checks in at .329 with 20 extra-base hits, 40 runs scored and 21 runs driven in. The trio of Gill, senior John Floegel and junior Michael Genaro has gone 15-4 with a 2.61 ERA with 116 strikeouts and just 26 walks for a pitching staff that owns a 3.32 ERA this spring.
40/40 CLUB
Arena is just the third player in program history to scored 40 or more runs and drive in 40 or more runs in the same season joining Jon Cignetti '98 (40 R, 45 RBI) and Eric Previte '00 (49 R, 40 RBI), who both achieved the feat in 1998.
STREAKING INTO THE POSTSEASON
Arena, senior Mark Webber and sophomore Matthew Valente all enter Wednesday's game riding six-game hitting streaks, while junior Edward Lehr has reached base in 11 consecutive outings.
READY FOR ANOTHER RUN
Babson, which captured its first NEWMAC Tournament championship since 2009 last spring, will begin its title defense on Friday afternoon against either fourth-seeded MIT or fifth-seeded Springfield at Govoni Field.
INSIDE THE NUMBERS
The Beavers' 185 walks this spring are a new single-season record.
