Baseball vs. No. 11/14 Wheaton
Friday, April 28 | 3:30 p.m. | Sidell Stadium | Norton, Mass.
Saturday, April 29 | 12 p.m. (DH) | Govoni Field | Babson Park, Mass.

SERIES HISTORY
• Babson is 32-52 all-time against Wheaton in a series that dates back to 1998.
• The Beavers have dropped their last six games against the Lyons but the teams are 10-10 against each other in the last 20 games going back to 2018.
• Over the last 16 contests, the Lyons have outscored the Beavers 78-66 with nine of the 16 meetings having been decided by three runs or less.

LAST MEETING
• Zach DeMattio '22 homered as part of a two-hit day and drove in all three runs to help top-seeded Wheaton defeat third-seeded Babson, 3-1, in a NEWMAC Tournament winner's bracket game on May 7, 2022 at Sidell Stadium.
• Graduate student Jack Pirkl had an RBI single and Sean Burychka '22 doubled and scored for the Beavers, who were limited to just five hits. Senior Tim Noone recorded his first career complete game giving up three runs and scattering eight hits while striking out three.
• Jake Studley '22 and Drew Spirito '22 both singled twice for the Lyons, who got 7.1 innings of one-run ball from Gavin Reily '22. Reily fanned three and gave up just one run on five hits, while Dom Cunha worked around a one-out walk in the ninth with a pair of strikeouts to record his 10th save.

SCOUTING THE BEAVERS
• Babson (22-13, 10-4 NEWMAC) has won its last two games and four of its last six, including a 6-5 come-from-behind victory over Clark Tuesday and a 6-0 shutout over UMass Boston Wednesday.
• Junior Brant Savage reached base five times on three hits and a pair of walks against UMB, while first-year James Clark allowed just three hits over a season-best seven shutout innings for this first collegiate victory and sophomore Luke McClintock retired all six batters he faced. First-year Chris Basile had two hits with an RBI for the Beavers and first-year Ryan Hvozdovic, senior Patrick Manning and junior Jack Julian all had one hit apiece.
• Savage (.353) is tied for the NEWMAC lead with 10 home runs and is second with 43 RBI, Basile (.342) is hitting .448 (13-for-29) in his last seven games, senior Michael O'Brien (.340) has six doubles and 14 RBI, and Hvozdovic (.339) has 26 runs batted in and 24 runs scored. Senior Ike Kiely (.333) has five multi-hit performances in his last seven outings, batting .408 in that stretch, senior Michael Cook (.328) has six extra-base hits and is tied for second on the team with 26 RBI, and junior Tanner Santos (.281) has a .472 on-base percentage with 34 walks and 22 stolen bases.
• Senior Tim Noone (4-1, 1.74 ERA) has recorded 63 strikeouts against just eight walks in 57.0 innings, classmate Anthony St. John (5-1, 3.26 ERA) has 31 Ks and just four walks in 47.0 innings, and junior Tristen Spalter (2-2, 3.56 ERA) has fanned 44 and walked just eight in 60.2 innings.

SCOUTING THE LYONS
• No. 11 D3baseball.com/No. 14 Collegiate Baseball/ABCA Wheaton (28-5, 13-1 NEWMAC), which has won five in a row and 13 of its last 14 games, is coming off a 14-5 victory over Trinity on Thursday.
• Junior AJ Guindon and sophomore Kevin Matos each had three hits and an RBI for the Lyons, first-year Nick Giangregorio cracked a home run and drove in three, and sophomore Timmy Wagner homered and walked and scored twice. Senior Nick Croteau reached base four times with a hit and three walks and knocked in two runs. First-year Benjamin Oliveira improved to 4-0, pitching 5.0 innings and allowing just one run on four hits while striking out two.
• Guindon (.439) leads the NEWMAC in hitting, triples (5) and runs scored (53), senior Cavan Brady (.406) tops the league in doubles (18) and RBI (61), Croteau (.333) has 41 RBI and 42 runs scored, and Matos (.315) shares the conference lead with 10 home runs.
• Sophomore Ryan McCarroll (7-1, 1.28 ERA) has 60 strikeouts in a 49.1 innings, senior Zach Clesas (5-1, 3.80) has 33 whiffs in 47.1 innings and junior Liam Goldthwaite (5-1, 3.86) has fanned 21 batters in 37.1 innings. Seniors Zach Nichols (2.75 ERA) and Max Pierce (4.22 ERA) have three saves apiece.

CHECKING WITH THE NEWMAC
• Wheaton (13-1) needs just one win against Babson to clinch the NEWMAC regular season title and top seed in next week's conference tournament.
• Babson (10-4) is in second place in the East division, three games up on MIT (7-7), while Clark (7-7) is in first place in the West division, a game up on Coast Guard (6-8).
• The top five teams earn playoff spots in the NEWMAC, starting with the four-seed hosting the five-seed in an elimination game next Thursday. The winner travels to the top seed and the three-seed visits the two-seed on Friday to start the double-elimination round, with the remainder of the tournament Saturday and Sunday at the top seed.

LEADING OFF
• Santos has reached base safely in 31 of the last 33 games and ranks first in the NEWMAC in both walks (34) and stolen bases (22).
• He is also fifth in the conference with 37 runs scored and ranks ninth in the league with a .475 on-base percentage.

NCAA STATS LEADERS
• Beaver pitchers are No. 1 in Division III in walks allowed per nine innings (1.98), No. 2 in strikeout-to-walk ratio (3.57) and eighth in WHIP (walks/hits per innings pitched) with a 1.24 mark.
• Babson is ranked 30th in Division III with a .970 fielding percentage, with 39 errors in 35 games. The Green and White have 15 error-free games and 10 outings with just one miscue.
• Noone is ranked fourth nationally in WHIP (0.79), 13th in strikeout-to-walk ratio (7.88), and 28th in earned run average (1.74). St. John is seventh in walks allowed per nine innings (0.77) and 14th in strikeout-to-walk ratio (7.75).

BEAVER BITES
• Senior Tim Person has not allowed a run in 12.1 innings over his last nine relief appearances and has recorded 15 strikeouts while allowing just five hits over this stretch.
• Savage (12) leads the Green and White in multi-hit games followed by Hvozdovic (14), Santos (12), Basile (11) and Cook (10).
• Savage has also reached base safely in 15 straight games while Basile has reached in 11 games in a row.

NUMBERS TO KNOW
• The Beavers are 18-1 this season and 37-4 over the last two years when scoring six or more runs.
• Babson is 16-4 this spring and 33-5 over the last two seasons when outhitting its opponents.
• The Green and White is 35-2 since the start of the 2022 campaign when leading after seven innings.
• The Beavers, who walked seven times in Wednesday's win at UMass Boston, have at least one walk in 37 of its last 38 games going back to last season.