No. 6/29 Baseball at No. 2/4 Trinity
Game 1: Friday, Feb. 28 | 8 p.m. ET
Game 2: Saturday, Feb. 29 | 3 p.m. ET
Game 3: Sunday, March 1 | 1 p.m.
Trinity Baseball Field | San Antonio, Texas
SERIES HISTORY
• Babson is 2-4 all-time against Trinity in a series that dates back to 2017.
• The Beavers will open their season in San Antonio against the Tigers for the third time in four years this weekend.
• Three of the six games between Babson and Trinity have been decided by a single run.
• The Tigers won game one (6-1) and game three (9-4) of last year's series, while the Beavers took the middle game 6-5.
LAST MEETING
• Mason Meredith and Rafe Chaumette recorded RBI singles as part of a three-run seventh inning that helped Trinity pull away for a 9-4 win over Babson on March 3, 2019, in San Antonio.
• Jake Martin went 2-for-5 with an RBI and three runs scored for the Tigers, who had six different players drive in a run.
• Senior Sean Harrington went 3-for-5 with two RBI and Connor Gill had two hits and scored twice for the Beavers, who left 11 runners on base.
SCOUTING THE TIGERS
• No. 2/4 Trinity (7-0) finished off a three-game sweep of Endicott with a 13-11 victory last Sunday.
• Meredith went 3-for-4 with four RBI and Cadhan McGahan struck out seven in 5.2 innings of relief for the Tigers, who pounded out 15 hits and took advantage of eight walks by the Gulls.
• Jack Vonderhaar is batting .385 with seven extra-base hits and six runs batted in, Meredith is hitting .367 with five extra-base hits and seven RBI, and Michael Herrara enters the weekend with a .318 average to go along with three home runs, five RBI and a team-high 12 walks.
• James Nittoli (2-0, 1.20 ERA) and Corey Cater (2-0. 3.09 ERA) have combined to strike out 28 over 26.2 innings, while Matthew Thomas has recorded three saves in five relief appearances.
SCOUTING THE BEAVERS
• No. 6/29 Babson (0-0) returns 27 players from a team that 39-10 overall and made the program's first College World Series appearance last season.
• After finishing the 2017 and 2018 campaign as a regional finalist, the Green and White won the Hartford Regional and swept Cortland in a best-of-three NCAA super regional to reach the CWS.
• Senior Jake Oliger batted .344 with 11 doubles, eight homers and a school-record 57 RBI, Harrington finished with 10 extra-base hits, 36 RBI and a .482 on-base percentage, and fellow senior Matthew Valente hit .280 with 10 doubles, 28 RBI and a team-high 48 runs scored.
• Junior Tyler Bell (4-0, 2.47 ERA) struck out 37 and walked just four in 51.0 innings, while classmate Jordy Allard went 8-1 with a 4.13 ERA in 10 starts for the Beavers.
FAMILIAR STARTING POSITION
• After winning a share of its third straight NEWMAC regular season title last spring, Babson collected five of eight first-place votes to finish atop the league's preseason coaches' poll earlier this month.
• The Beavers finished ahead of second-place Wheaton, which also grabbed a share of last year's regular season crown, and third-place MIT, which defeated the Green and White to earn a NEWMAC Tournament championship.
SHUT DOWN BOYS
• Senior William Gallagher, who made his only start of last season in game three of the series at Trinity, and junior Henry Leake were dominant in the late innings a year ago.
• Gallagher was 1-0 with one save, a 1.95 ERA and 38 strikeouts in 32.1 innings out of the bullpen, while Leake boasted a 1.98 ERA and struck out 37 batters in 27.1 innings of work
STREAKING BEAVERS
• Entering Friday's series in Texas, Oliger has reached base safely in 20 straight games, while Harrington has been on base in each of his last eight outings.
TOUGH STARTING STRETCH
• In addition to the three games against the Tigers, Babson will face RV/No. 39 Baldwin Wallace, perennial power Marietta, No. 10/9 Denison and No. 12/12 Wooster in its first four games in Florida in mid-March.
NUMBER TO KNOW
• The Beavers went 22-2 last season when allowing five runs or less.
