Baseball vs. Wheaton
Friday, April 29 | 3 p.m. | Govoni Field | Babson Park, Mass.
Saturday, April 30 | 12 p.m. (DH) | Sidell Stadium | Norton, Mass.
Babson: Roster | Schedule & Results | Stats
Wheaton: Roster| Schedule & Results | Stats
NEWMAC: Standings | Schedule & Results | Stats
Poll: D3baseball.com Top 25
SERIES HISTORY
• Babson is 31-47 all-time against Wheaton in a series that dates back to 1998.
• The teams have split their last 12 games going back to May 2018 and played seven times last spring.
• Over the last 12 contests, the Lyons have outscored the Beavers 64-62 with half of the meetings having been decided by three runs or less.
LAST MEETING
• Jacob Studley went 4-for-5 with a pair of doubles and Brody Ashley and Andrew Spirito both drove in a pair of runs to help Wheaton defeat Babson, 10-4, in game three of the NEWMAC Tournament championship series on May 16, in Norton, Mass.
• Josh Roberge struck out seven over 7.0 innings for the Lyons, who broke the game open with a seven-run fifth inning.
• Sophomore Francis Kiely homered, junior Michael Cook went 2-for-4 and scored twice and Matthew Valente '20 M'21 had an RBI double for the Beavers.
SCOUTING THE BEAVERS
• Babson (23-10, 12-2 NEWMAC) has won 11 of its last 13 games and is coming off a 14-10 victory at Clark on Wednesday.
• Senior Josh Yellen and junior Patrick Manning finished with three hits apiece and first-year Justin Guest doubled, homered and drove in a season-high five runs for the Beavers, who finished with 16 hits and scored 13 runs over the first three innings.
• Yellen is batting .353 with seven extra-base hits, 28 RBI and 28 runs scored, senior Thomas Lapham is hitting .342 with five extra-base hits, 18 RBI 25 walks and a league-best 39 runs scored, and Kiely enters the weekend with a .295 average to go along with seven doubles, three homers and a team-high 29 runs batted in.
• Junior Anthony St. John (4-0, 3.38 ERA), classmate Tim Noone (6-1, 3.43 ERA) and sophomore Tristen Spalter (5-2, 2.86 ERA) boast a 1.11 WHIP and a 4.72 strikeout-to-walk ratio, while junior Stephen McLendon is 2-1 with five saves, a 1.23 ERA and 29 strikeouts in 22.0 innings out of the bullpen.
SCOUTING THE LYONS
• Wheaton (22-10, 11-3 NEWMAC) defeated Coast Guard, 9-6, on Tuesday for its ninth consecutive victory.
• Studley and Anthony Teberio both homered, Robert Wirtanen drove in a pair of runs and the Lyons got 4.2 innings of shutout relief from Jackson Walsh, Max Pierce and Dom Cunha to sweep the season series against the Bears.
• Studley is batting .363 and leads the NEWMAC with 13 doubles, eight home runs and 32 runs batted in, junior Cavan Brady is hitting .339 with eight extra-base hits, 23 walks, 10 stolen baes, 16 RBI and 32 walks, and senior Zach DeMattio enters the weekend with a .283 average to go along with 11 doubles, seven homers and 30 RBI.
• Senior Stephen Quigley (5-2, 2.25 ERA) has recorded a league-high 54 strikeouts in 44.0 innings, classmate Gavin Reily (5-2, 2.25 ERA) has allowed just six earned runs over his last 42.1 innings, and senior Griffin Young (4-1, 3.10 ERA) has 46 strikeouts 40.2 innings pitched.
WHAT'S AT STAKE
• The Beavers need one win to earn at least a share of their fifth consecutive NEWMAC regular season title and can earn the top seed in next week's conference tournament by winning two-of-three-games over two days against Wheaton, who enters the series just a game back in the standings.
• The winner of the three-game set will host next weekend's NEWMAC Tournament, while the loser will drop to third and face a road game at either Springfield (9-5) or Coast Guard (8-6) next Friday.
STREAKING BEAVERS
• Lapham has reached base in 24 consecutive starts going back to mid-March, Yellen has reached safely in 12 straight contests and Guest had been on base in each of his last nine starts.
• First-year Walter Sadowsky enters this series against the Lyons riding a 13-game hitting streak, while Yellen, who leads the Green and White with 14 multi-hit games, has at least one knock in each of the last 10 contests.
RECIPE FOR SUCCESS
• The Beavers rank second in Division III in both strikeout-to-walk ratio (3.80) and walks allowed per nine innings (2.05) and are second in the NEWMAC and 18th nationally with a 1.27 WHIP.
• In addition to their success on the mound, Babson ranks first in the conference and 18th in Division III in fielding percentage (.971) and has turned league-best 13 double plays in NEWMAC games this spring.
WHO'S HOT
• Manning is 6-for-11 (.545) at the plate with two home runs, four RBI and four walks, while Yellen is batting .435 (10-for-23) with a double, a triple and four RBI over the last five games.
• Kiely and Guest have combined to hit .375 (9-for-24) with four homers, nine walks, 13 RBI and 13 runs scored in four games over the last week.
NUMBERS TO KNOW
• The Beavers are 19-4 this spring when scoring first and 14-1 when they put up at least one run in the first inning.
• Babson is 16-1 when outhitting its opponents on the year.
• The Beavers are 15-2 this spring when limiting foes to two extra-base hits or fewer.
• The Green and White is 19-2 this spring when giving up five runs or fewer.
• Babson is 5-4 in games decided by one or two runs.
• The Beavers are 14-4 in the month of April.
UP NEXT
• Babson will begin NEWMAC Tournament play next Friday at 3:30 p.m.
