Beavers Extend Winning Streak to Eight, Improve to 9-1 in NEWMAC Play

BABSON PARK, Mass.—Sophomore Francis Kiely (Falmouth, Mass.) drove in the go-ahead run with a sacrifice fly in the bottom of the eighth and Babson College scored four times over the final two innings to rally for a 5-3 win over visiting Clark University in New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) baseball action on Tuesday afternoon at Govoni Field.

With its eighth consecutive victory, Babson improves to 19-8 overall and 9-1 in league play. Clark slips to 13-11 overall and 3-7 in the NEWMAC with the loss.

Senior Thomas Lapham (Charlestown, Mass.) went 1-for-2 with two walks and a run scored, sophomore Tanner Santos (Bethany, Conn.) had an RBI double and senior Josh Yellen (Bloomfield Hills, Mich.), junior Jackson Kelly (Wenonah, N.J.) and first-year Justin Guest (West Windsor, N.J.) all drove in a run for the Beavers. Senior William Cournan (Pembroke, Mass.) struck out the side in the seventh and junior Stephen McLendon (Nashua, N.H.) struck out four in two shutout innings of relief to earn the win improving his record to 2-1 on the year.

Sophomore Anthony LoCosto (New Rochelle, N.Y.) went 2-for-4 with a double and two runs scored, while classmate Samuel Farrell (Holliston, Mass.) singled twice and scored a run for the Cougars. Fellow sophomore Maxwell Gitlin (Pasadena, Calif.) settled for a no-decision after striking out six and giving up three runs on four hits in 7.0 innings. Sophomore Heath Cockburn (Durham, Maine) shouldered the loss to drop to 1-2 on the year.

Lapham led off with a walk and scored on Yellen's sacrifice fly to give the Green and White a 1-0 lead in the first. Clark tied it in the third when junior Ryan Caulfield (Simsbury, Conn.) plated LoCosto with a sacrifice fly to left and went in front in the fifth when first-year CJ Johnson (Danbury, Conn.) ripped a two-out double down the left field line.

Babson graduate student Truman Devitt (Mamaroneck, N.Y.) retired the first batter he faced with runners on second and third to escape any further damage in the frame, but the Cougars struck again in the sixth as Farrell legged out an infield single to start the inning and later scored on junior Anthony Keefe's (Plymouth, Mass.) single to right past the drawn-in infield to make it 3-1. Gitlin, who carried a no-hitter into the sixth, finally ran into trouble in the seventh as the Beavers scored twice to tie the game.

Santos led off with a walk, first-year Walter Sadowsky (Morristown, N.J.) singled to right and Kelly followed with an RBI knock to center that cut the deficit to 3-2. Guest followed with a pinch-hit single to that brought home Sadowsky to make it 3-3.

McLendon worked around a one-out single in the top of the eighth and Babson went in front for good in the bottom half of the inning. Senior Sean Burychka (Mount Laurel, N.J.) worked a leadoff walk, stole second and moved to third on Yellen's single before racing home on Kiely's sacrifice fly to center for a 4-3 advantage. Santos followed with a double to right to bring home Yellen with an insurance run and McLendon struck out the side in the ninth to secure the win.

Babson is back in action on Wednesday when it hosts Johnson & Wales at 3:30 p.m., while Clark travels to Nichols on Thursday at 3:30 p.m.

GAME NOTES
• The Beavers are 62-21 all-time against Clark and have won their last five games between the teams.
• Lapham and Sadowsky both extended their hitting streaks to eight games on Tuesday.
• Babson is 5-3 this season in games decided by one or two runs.
• The Beavers 17-2 this season when allowing five runs or fewer.