WORCESTER, Mass.—No. 10 Babson College got strong starting pitching from senior Jordy Allard (Woodstock, Vt.) and graduate student Ben Gottesman (Acton, Mass.) and pounded out 34 hits on its way to sweeping a New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) doubleheader at Clark University on Saturday afternoon.

The Beavers won the opener 6-2 before routing the Cougars 15-3 in game two to secure its fourth consecutive regular season conference title. Babson is now 10-2 overall and 9-1 in league play, while Clark's season comes to a close at 5-9 overall and 3-5 in the NEWMAC.

GAME 1: Babson 6, Clark 2
Junior Jack Pirkl (Brightwaters, N.Y.) went 3-for-4 with a double and an RBI, and classmates Josh Yellen (Bloomfield Hills, Mich.), Thomas Lapham (Charlestown, Mass.) and Sean Burychka (Mount Laurel, N.J.) all recorded two hits and drove in a run to pace the Beavers' 15-hit attack. Graduate student Matthew Valente (Wyckoff, N.J.) went 2-for-4 with a double and a walk and first-year Francis Kiely (Falmouth, Maine) singled twice in the win.

Babson stranded a pair in both the second and third innings before jumping on top with two runs in the fourth. Burychka led off with a single and later scored on an error, while Lapham doubled the advantage by plating Yellen with a two-out knock. Clark cut its deficit in half on senior James Huber's (Rochester, N.Y.) two-out triple to right center in the last of the sixth, but the Beavers responded with a two-run seven that included a sacrifice fly by graduate student AJ DiFillipo (Peabody, Mass.) and Valente scoring when Burychka's fly ball to left was dropped to make it 4-1.

The Green and White added two more runs in the eighth, including an RBI single by Pirkl, in support of Allard, who scattered five hits and struck out 10 over 7.0 innings to improve to 5-0 on the year.

Huber went 3-for-4 with a double and two triples for the Cougars, who saw its bullpen surrender four runs on eight hits in four innings of work. Senior Nick Guarino (New Haven, Conn.) started and allowed just one earned run over the first five frames for the hosts.

GAME 2: Babson 15, Clark 3
Pirkl and junior Andrew Dembowski (Danvers, Mass.) both had three hits and Lapham, Burychka, Kiely and first-year Jack Julian (Manchester, Mass.) each drove in a pair of runs as Babson pounded out 19 hits in the nightcap. Dembowski, Burychka and Pirkl each recorded two stolen bases and eight different players drove in a run in the rout.

Babson got an RBI single from Kiely in the first, a sacrifice fly from Valente in the second and tacked on another run without the benefit of a hit in the third to build a 3-1 lead. Dembowski led off with a single and later scored on a wild pitch, and Burychka walked and stole second before scoring on Kiely's two-out base hit to extend the margin to 5-1 in the fourth, and the Beavers broke the game wide open thanks to a five-run fifth inning.

Yellen and senior Jack Ward (Danvers, Mass.), who drew back-to-back walks to start the frame, scored on Lapham's triple, and Pirkl followed with an RBI single to make it 8-1 before an out was recorded. Dembowski reached on a walk and both he and Pirkl came home on a two-out single by Burychka to extended the margin to 10-1.

Yellen added an RBI double in the seventh, and Julian blasted a two-run homer, the first of his career, following an RBI single by first-year Tanner Santos (Bethany, Conn.) as part of Babson's five-run seventh.

Gottesman picked up his first win as a Beaver, allowing just two runs on four hits while striking out six over 6.0 innings.

Junior Jafar Vohra (Shelton, Conn.) didn't make it out of the third inning for Clark after giving up three runs on three hits and five walks.

Babson will be the top seed in the upcoming NEWMAC Tournament and will begin a best-of-three semifinal series against fourth-seeded Springfield next Saturday.

GAME NOTES
• The Beavers are now 61-21 all-time against Clark and snapped a four-game losing streak at Granger Field with Saturday's sweep.
• Allard, who entered the weekend leading Division III in WHIP, has recorded at least six strikeouts while allowing one run or less in each of his five starts
• Babson's 19 hits and seven stolen bases in game two are both season highs.
• In six road games this spring the Beavers have outscored their opponents 79-14.