Baseball vs. Brandeis
Saturday, March 5 | 12 p.m.
New England Baseball Complex | Northborough, Mass.
SERIES HISTORY
• Babson is 17-26 all-time against Brandeis in a series that dates back to 1976.
• Saturday's game is the first meeting between the two schools since 2010.
LAST MEETING
• Brandeis snapped a seven-game losing streak with a 10-5 victory over Babson in a rain-soaked game at Govoni Field on April 18, 2010. Brandeis led the second game of the doubleheader 5-3 in the fifth inning when it was called due to rain prior to becoming an official game.
• The Judges were paced by Zach Malis, who drove in four runs with a sac fly and a three-run home run. Eric Rosenberg went 4-for-4 with a double and two runs scored.
• Babson was led by Chris Kucher, who was 2-for-2 with a double, a home run, a walk, two runs scored and four RBI, and Billy Besinger was 3-for-3 with an RBI.
SCOUTING THE BEAVERS
• Babson (2-1) is coming off a successful season-opening trip to Texas last weekend where the Beavers took two out of three from No. 15 Trinity University, winning Friday, 5-4, and Sunday, 4-2, sandwiched around a 12-11 loss on Saturday.
• The Beavers capitalized on a four-run fifth inning on Friday, with two-run hits by senior Josh Yellen and sophomore Tanner Santos, to secure the opening day triumph. Senior Thomas Lapham had two hits and knocked in a pair and junior right-hander Anthony St. John allowed just two runs over seven innings Sunday to clinch the series victory.
• The Green and White staged a five-run, ninth-inning rally on Saturday, including a three-run homer by junior Patrick Manning and two-run single by Yellen, and had the tying run on base before suffering the loss.
• Manning and Lapham had five hits each in the series with Manning driving in five and Lapham had three RBI and scored four runs. Yellen also had four hits and knocked in five.
SCOUTING THE JUDGES
• Brandeis (2-1) dropped an 8-6 decision Wednesday in its 2022 season opener against Anna Maria at the New England Baseball Complex in Northborough, Mass.
• Junior LF Sam Nugent led the Judges with three of the team's 10 hits, scoring two runs and stealing a base. Junior 3B Brian King went 1-4 with two RBI, a double, and a run scored.
• The Brandeis bullpen combined to allow just five hits and two runs (one earned) in 3.2 frames, striking out six and walking two.
• The Judges went 12-3 against four schools in a Covid-abbreviated 2021 season, going 6-0 against Lasell, 4-1 vs. Johnson & Wales, 1-2 against Framingham State, and 1-0 against Anna Maria.
• Brandeis was 6-4 when the 2020 season was shut down, and finished 17-20 in its last full campaign in 2019.
EARLY SEASON HONOR
• Babson junior Stephen McLendon was named to the D3baseball.com Team of the Week on Wednesday.
• McLendon recorded two saves in two relief appearances last weekend against Trinity. He struck out the side and worked around a two-out double to secure Friday's 5-4 victory and then needed just nine pitches to retire the side in order in Sunday's 4-2 win.
POLL POSITION
• Coming off a fourth straight conference regular season title, the Green and White was voted first on one ballot and came in second behind Wheaton in the NEWMAC preseason coaches' poll.
• Babson is 50-11 in NEWMAC regular season play since 2017 and in addition to its regular season success, has advanced to the conference tournament final every year going back to 2016.
BY THE NUMBERS
• The Beavers have won 12 of their last 14 games dating back to 2020 when scoring at least five runs.
• The Green and White have at least one extra-base hit in 12 of their last 13 games and at least one walk in 14 straight outings.
UP NEXT
• The Beavers head to Port Charlotte, Florida, for Spring Break and six games in six days from March 12-17, beginning with Lebanon Valley on Saturday, March 12.
