Baseball vs. Springfield
Saturday, April 2 | 12 p.m./3 p.m.
Govoni Field | Babson Park, Mass.
Babson: Roster | Schedule & Results | Stats
Springfield: Roster | Schedule & Results | Stats
NEWMAC: Standings | Schedule & Results | Stats
Poll: D3baseball.com Top 25
SERIES HISTORY
• Babson is 36-22 all-time against Springfield in a series that dates back to 1996.
• The Beavers have won their last 14 games against the Pride going back to 2014, which includes a 2-0 sweep of last year's best-of-3 NEWMAC Tournament semifinal series.
LAST MEETING
• Senior Jack Pirkl and AJ DiFillipo M'21 both had three hits and two RBI and senior Andrew Dembowski doubled twice and drove in a pair of runs to help Babson defeat the Pride, 11-8, on May 8, 2021, in Springfield, Mass.
• Junior Michael Cook went 2-for-3 with three RBI and seniors Thomas Lapham and Josh Yellen each contributed two hits and an RBI for the Beavers, who jumped out to a 6-0 second-inning lead.
• Junior Joe Traversa and Ryan Smith both finished with two singles, two walks and two runs scored for Springfield, which scored five times over the final two innings.
SCOUTING THE BEAVERS
• Babson (9-6, 0-0 NEWMAC) has dropped two straight games after suffering a 4-3 loss at Roger Williams on Thursday.
• Pirkl, Cook and sophomore Tanner Santos all recorded two hits, while Dembowski and junior Jackson Kelly both drove in a run for the Beavers, who left seven men on base in the loss.
• Lapham is batting .362 with two doubles and team highs of six stolen bases and 16 runs scored, senior Sean Burychka is hitting .358 with seven extra-base hits, 13 RBI and 11 runs scored and Yellen boasts a .345 average to go along with one double and 10 runs batted in.
• Junior Anthony St. John is 1-0 with a 3.98 ERA in 20.1 innings, classmate Tim Noone (2-1, 6.61 ERA) has recorded 15 strikeouts while allowing no runs over his last 12 innings of work, and fellow junior Stephen McLendon is 1-1 with four saves and a 1.98 ERA in nine appearances out of the bullpen.
SCOUTING THE PRIDE
• Springfield (7-11, 0-0 NEWMAC) had its three-game winning streak halted in a 10-5 loss to Dean on Thursday.
• First-year Max Giacco went 3-for-5 with a run scored and Traversa and graduate student Noah Bleakley drove in two runs apiece for the Pride, which has scored at least five runs in eight of its last 10 contests.
• Sophomore Ryan Sorgi is batting .386 with seven extra-base hits and 15 runs batted in, Bleakley is hitting .354 with nine extra-base hits, 19 RBI and 16 runs scored, and sophomore Andrew McCarty boasts a .308 average to go along with two home runs, 14 RBI and a team-high 13 walks.
• Junior Brendan Kirck is 2-0 with a 3.71 ERA and 26 strikeouts in 17.0 innings, classmate Blake Roberge (1-1, 7.71 ERA) has fanned 19 in 16.1 innings of work, and fellow junior Jack DeGirolamo (2-0, 1 save) has not allowed a run while striking out 16 in 10.1 innings of relief this spring.
STREAKING INTO THE WEEKEND
• Yellen has at least one hit in 13 of the Beavers' first 15 games and has reached base safely in 17 consecutive starts going back to 2021.
• Despite having his seven-game hitting streak snapped on Thursday, Lapham has reached base safely in eight straight outings and is hitting .467 (14-for-30) with 11 runs scored and five multi-hit games during this stretch.
• Pirkl is riding a four-game hitting streak and junior Patrick Manning has reached base safely in each of his last five starts.
PROVIDING A SPARK
• In eight starts this spring, Dembowski is batting .400 (12-for-30) with a double, four RBI, seven walks, four stolen bases and five runs scored.
• He is tied for third on the team with four multi-hit games and boasts a .487 on-base percentage.
NUMBERS TO KNOW
• The Beavers are 46-7 at Govoni Field going back to April 22, 2016.
• Babson is 8-1 this spring when allowing five runs or less.
• The Green and White is 5-1 when recording more hits than its opponents.
• Babson is 3-3 on the year in one-run games.
NEWMAC COACHES MAKE THEIR PICKS
• The Beavers earned one first-place vote and were picked to finish second when the league released its preseason coaches' poll back in March.
• Babson has won four consecutive NEWMAC regular season titles (2017, 2018, 2019, 2021) and reached the conference tournament final in every season going back to 2016.
UP NEXT
• Babson will host UMass Dartmouth on Monday at 3:30 p.m.
