Baseball at Springfield (DH)
Sunday, April 2 | 12 p.m.
Archie Allen Field | Springfield, Mass.
THE SET-UP
• The New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) regular season slate gets underway as Babson travels to Springfield for a Sunday twin bill.
• The Beavers finished tied for first with Wheaton in the NEWMAC preseason coaches' poll, with each team collecting four first-place votes, while Springfield was picked fifth in the poll.
SERIES HISTORY
• Babson is 39-22 all-time against Springfield in a series that dates back to 1996.
• The Beavers have won 17 straight games against the Pride, including all three last season, dating back to 2014.
• The Green and White have won eight in a row at Springfield since a Pride victory in 2012.
LAST MEETING
• Senior Jackson Kelly and junior Tanner Santos both homered and junior Tristen Spalter tossed eight strong innings to help third-seeded Babson defeat second-seeded Springfield, 7-1, in the NEWMAC Tournament opener for both teams on May 6, 2022 at Allen Field.
• Santos went 4-for-5 with a triple and two RBI, Kelly was 2-for-3 with a triple and three RBI and graduate student Jack Pirkl, Thomas Lapham '22 and Josh Yellen '22 finished with two hits apiece to lead the Beavers. Sophomore Walter Sadowsky also recorded two hits in support of Spalter, who allowed just one run while striking out three.
• Seniors Michael Barrett and Cadin Maynard both doubled and finished with two hits to lead the Pride. Fellow senior Blake Roberge suffered the loss after allowing three earned runs on nine hits over 4.2 innings.
SCOUTING THE BEAVERS
• Babson (8-7) brings a six-game winning streak into the weekend following Thursday's 4-3, 10-inning victory over Roger Williams at Govoni Field.
• First-year Ryan Hvozdovic raced home on classmate Chris Basile's bases-loaded single in the bottom of the 10th to secure the win. Senior Michael Cook went 2-for-5 with a run scored, Hvozdovic and Basile both singled and scored and first-year Zander Teator drove in a run and scored for the Beavers. Sophomore Cole Velis struck out the side in the 10th to earn his first career win, while first-year James Clark struck out four and gave up just two hits over 6.0 innings in his first career start on the mound.
• Cook (.397) has two doubles and 10 RBI, Hvozdovic (.360) has two doubles, two home runs and nine runs batted in, and junior Brant Savage (.355) has three doubles to go along with team-highs of six homers and 18 RBI. Basile (.324, 2 doubles, 1 HR) has five multi-hit games and Santos (.304) has 17 walks, a .515 on-base percentage and has scored a team-high 13 runs.
• Senior Tim Noone (2-0, 0.95 ERA) has recorded 37 strikeouts against just two walks in 28.1 innings, classmate Anthony St. John (2-0, 2.33 ERA) has 15 Ks and just one walk, and Spalter (2-1, 3.34 ERA) has fanned 23 and walked just three in 32.1 innings.
SCOUTING THE PRIDE
• Springfield (6-9-1) is coming off back-to-back losses to Brandeis (5-4) on Tuesday and Keene State (11-9) on Wednesday.
• Sophomore Luke DiMauro went 3-for-3 with a double and two runs scored in the loss to Keene, while Maynard was 2-for-4 with a double and three RBI. Junior Ryan Sorgi also had two hits and first-year Jack Dunaisky had a double and an RBI. Junior Colby Welch allowed just two earned runs on five hits over five innings but took the loss.
• Maynard (.379) has a team-high seven doubles, 15 runs and 15 RBI, Barrett (.340) has a .516 OBP with 12 walks to go along with five doubles, two triples, and nine RBI, and Sorgi (.320) has knocked in 10 runs with a double, a triple and a home run.
• Roberge (5.87 ERA) is 2-0 in four starts, Welch (5.50 ERA) has logged a team-high 18 innings over four starts, and junior Connor Caverly (6.59 ERA) is 2-1 with 16 strikeouts in 13.2 innings. First-year Nathan Kelleher-Mochak also has 16 Ks in 14.0 innings out of the bullpen.
NCAA STATS LEADERS
• Beaver pitchers are No. 2 in Division III in strikeout-to-walk ratio (4.27), walks allowed per nine innings (1.74) and WHIP (walks/hits per innings pitched) with a 1.15 mark.
• Babson is ranked fourth in Division III with a .979 fielding percentage, with just 12 errors in 15 games. The Green and White have eight error-free games, including five of the last six.
• Tim Noone is ranked first nationally in WHIP (0.53), third in strikeout-to-walk ratio (18.50), eighth in hits allowed per nine innings (4.13) and 18th in earned run average (0.95). St. John is third in walks allowed per nine innings (0.47) and sixth in strikeout-to-walk ratio (15.00).
• Savage is 16th in home runs per game (0.40) and Santos is 20th in walks per game (1.13).
STREAKING BEAVERS
• Cook has reached base safely in 16 consecutive outings going back to last year.
• Savage now has a 12-game hitting streak, with six multi-hit games in that span. Santos has reached base in 14 contests in a row going back to last May.
NUMBERS TO KNOW
• The Green and White is 6-1 this season and 24-5 going back to the start of last year when recording at least 10 hits.
• The Beavers are 7-1 this season and 24-2 going back to last season when leading after seven innings, and 6-0 this spring and 25-1 since last year taking a lead into the ninth inning.
UP NEXT
• Sunday's games begin a streak of five games in four days as the Beavers visit UMass Dartmouth on Monday, host Coast Guard on Tuesday and travel to Brandeis for a make-up game on Wednesday.
