Babson Baseball at the Snowbird Classic
vs. No. 6 Baldwin Wallace | Friday, March 10 | Port Charlotte, Fla. | 10 a.m.
vs. No. 22 North Central (Ill.) | Saturday, March 11 | Port Charlotte, Fla. | 9 a.m.
vs. No. 11 Denison | Saturday, March 11 | Port Charlotte, Fla. | 12 p.m.
vs. RV Wooster | Sunday, March 12 | Port Charlotte, Fla. | 3 p.m.
WHAT TO KNOW
• Babson travels to Port Charlotte, Fla., for seven games overall, beginning with four games this weekend against national-caliber teams.
• After starting Friday against No. 6 Baldwin Wallace, the Beavers will play Saturday against No. 22 North Central (Ill.) and No. 11 Denison and Sunday vs. Wooster, which is receiving votes in the D3baseball.com poll.
• All of Babson's games will be played at Centennial Park on 1185 Centennial Blvd., in Port Charlotte.
SERIES HISTORY
vs. Baldwin Wallace: the Beavers are 2-0 all-time in a series that dates back to 2018. Babson captured a 6-5 victory over the Yellow Jackets on Nicholas Browne's '19 two-run homer in the bottom of the ninth in 2018, and earned a 3-2 victory last March as senior Anthony St. John allowed just two runs over seven innings and graduate student Jack Pirkl delivered a two-run single in the bottom of the eighth.
vs. North Central: the Beavers are 1-0 all-time against the Cardinals after a 3-2 victory in 2019, scoring the go-ahead run in the top of the eighth on a sacrifice fly by Edward Lehr '19.
vs. Denison: the Beavers are 1-2 all-time against the Big Red in a series that dates back to 1998, when Denison captured a 9-7 victory. The teams met twice in 2022, with the Big Red taking the first game 7-1 on March 15 and the Beavers winning the rematch, 10-5, on March 17.
vs. Wooster: the Beavers and Scots are tied 1-1 in the all-time series which started in 2022. Babson won the first game 5-4 in 11 innings on March 14 and Wooster won the rematch on March 16, outslugging the Green and White, 19-8.
SCOUTING THE BEAVERS
• Babson (1-2) is back in action after winning the finale of a three-game series at No. 5 Trinity (Texas), 11-6, back on February 26.
• Graduate student Ryan Noone and senior Michael Cook combined to drive in eight runs in the win for the Beavers. Noone homered and doubled and drove in five runs, while Cook went 3-for-4 with a double and three RBI. Senior Michael O'Brien and first-year Ryan Hvozdovic both went 2-for-5 with an RBI, junior Tanner Santos singled twice and scored a pair of runs and senior Jackson Kelly scored three times.
• Senior Stephen McLendon won his first career start, allowing four runs on four hits while striking out four over 6.1 innings, and St. John fanned two in 2.2 innings of relief in the victory.
• Cook batted .500 (6-for-12) with a pair of doubles and six RBI in the three games while Noone went 4-for-12 with a double, a homer and five RBI and first-year Ryan Hvozdovic went 3-for-6 with a double in two games.
SCOUTING THE YELLOW JACKETS
• No. 6 Baldwin Wallace (9-2) has won three in a row and four of five games on this week's Florida trip following Wednesday's 9-3 win over Swarthmore.
• Senior Alexis Castillo went 3-for-4 with two RBIs and sophomore Sean Kolenich went 2-for-4 with two RBIs and two runs scored to lead the Yellow Jackets. Senior Vincent Capolupo also had two hits including a double and knocked in a run and junior Nick Clark had a single and drove in a pair. Senior Clay Anderson went five innings and allowed just two earned runs on five hits while fanning two and the BW bullpen threw four scoreless innings, allowing just three baserunners and striking out five.
• Castillo (.458) leads the team with 22 hits and four doubles, Kolenich (.392, 13 RBI) and senior Andrew Parker (.344, 5 HR, 13 RBI) share the team RBI lead, and Clark (.386, 12 RBI) has five extra-base hits for the Yellow Jackets, who are batting .329 as a team.
• Senior Nik Baldis (3-0, 5.28 ERA) has won three of his four starts and classmate Dawson Gabe (1-0, 5.06 ERA) has a team-high 22 strikeouts in 16 innings for BW, which is recording 9.73 strikeouts per nine innings as a team.
SCOUTING THE CARDINALS
• No. 22 North Central (5-2) is coming off a 9-8 victory over Kalamazoo and a 13-0 loss to No. 12 Denison last Saturday at the Derby City Classic in Louisville, hosted by Spaulding (Ky.).
• Senior Jared Wojcik and sophomore John Michael Scumaci had two hits and two RBI apiece in the win over Kalamazoo, while senior Rob Marinec knocked in three runs. Scumaci belted his first home run and Wojcik, Marinec and first-year Nolan King all hit doubles.
• Marinec (.500) leads the team with 14 hits, six doubles, 3 home runs and 12 RBI. Junior Michael Davis (.333) has two doubles and six RBI and Wojcik (.261) has a double and five stolen bases for the Cardinals, who are batting .252 as a team.
• Senior Ryan Behling (1-0, 1.93 ERA) has struck out 14 batters in 14 innings in three starts while classmate Luke Lamm (1-2, 6.57 ERA) has fanned 18 batters in 12.1 innings in his three starts. Senior Jason Shanner (1-0, 0.00, 1 sv) has allowed no runs on just three hits and four walks with 12 strikeouts in 7.1 innings of relief.
SCOUTING THE BIG RED
• No. 11 Denison (5-0), which finished 35-11 last year on the way to the NCAA Tournament regionals. owns a 13-0 victory over then-No. 21 North Central last Saturday as one of its five victories to start the 2023 campaign. The Big Red also downed Spaulding (Ky.), 6-2, on Sunday.
• Junior Noah Leib had two-hits in the win over Spaulding, including a three-run double in the ninth inning that broke open a 2-2 game. First-year Erik Sundgren also homered for the Big Red in the win, and sophomore Nick Falter pitched four innings and allowed one run on four hits while striking out two. The bullpen worked five innings, allowing just one run on four hits and striking out five.
• Sophomore Eric Colaco (.421) has team-highs of two home runs, seven runs scored and 10 runs batted in. Senior Ari Fierer (.412) has a double, a triple and five RBI, and Leib (.385) has a team-best four doubles and five RBI for the Big Red, who are batting .298 as a team.
• Senior Charlie Fleming (2-0, 2.19 ERA) has allowed just eight hits and three walks in two starts, striking out 18 batters in 12.1 innings. Falter (1-0, 1.00 ERA) has allowed four hits and two walks in 9.0 innings, fanning six, and junior lefty George Viebrock (0-0, 1.69) has two saves in three appearances out of the bullpen.
SCOUTING THE FIGHTING SCOTS
• Wooster (1-1) split a season-opening doubleheader against Grove City on February 25 and opens its 11-game Florida slate on Sunday against Mitchell.
• After dropping the opener to Grove City 5-1, the Fighting Scots exploded for a 19-7 victory in the nightcap. First-year Ryan Kramer went 5-for-6 with two doubles and three RBI, senior Dane Camphausen was 4-for-6 with a double, a home run, two RBI and four runs scored, sophomore Nick Pett was 3-for-5 with two walks, a home run and two RBI, and junior Grant Mitchell had two hits, scored three runs and knocked in four.
• Junior Corey Knauf allowed just two hits and a walk in seven innings in a no-decision start, striking out five. Senior Ryan Sullivan pitched four innings in his start, surrendering one earned run on six hits and fanning one.
• Camphausen belted 12 home runs and drove in 57 runs last year to help the Fighting Scots to a 35-17 record and advance to the NCAA Tournament Super Regionals.
NEWMAC HONOR
• Tim Noone was named the New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) Pitcher of the Week on Monday afternoon.
• The senior lefthander settled for a no-decision in his first start, allowing just two runs on four hits while striking out five over 7.0 innings in a 3-2 loss at Trinity. He retired 13 of 15 hitters over the middle innings and went at least six innings for the ninth consecutive start.
NATIONALLY RANKED OPPONENTS
• The Beavers are 4-3 going back to the start of last season against nationally ranked opponents.
• In addition to this weekend's three games against ranked teams, Babson will face North Central again on Tuesday.
BEAVER BITES
• Santos hit safely in two of the three games in Texas and reached base in all three, finishing with three hits, three runs scored, two walks and two stolen bases.
• Cook has hit safely in his last four games dating back to last season.
• Kelly has at least one knock in 13 of his last 17 games dating back to last year.
NUMBERS TO KNOW
• The Beavers have won 19 of their last 23 when recording at least 10 hits and 20 of their last 24 when registering at least two extra-base hits.
• Babson is 18-1 since the start of last season when leading after seven innings.
• The Green and White have won 16 of their last 18 games when scoring in the first inning.
UP NEXT
• The Beavers wrap up their Florida trip with games Tuesday against North Central at 2 p.m., Wednesday vs. Stevens at 11 a.m. and Thursday against Wooster at 11 a.m.
