Savage Ties NCAA Division III Record with Three Sacrifice Flies as Beavers Win for Eighth Time in Nine Games

DARTMOUTH, Mass.—Senior Michael O'Brien (Medford, Mass.) went 3-for-4 with a double and three runs batted in and junior Brant Savage (Charlton, Mass.) tied a Division III record with three sacrifice flies to help visiting Babson College defeat UMass Dartmouth, 16-10, in non-conference baseball action on Monday afternoon.

With its eighth win over the last nine games, Babson improves to 10-8 on the year. UMass Dartmouth has dropped four straight games to slip to 11-9 overall.

Junior Tanner Santos (Bethany, Conn.) went 2-for-4 with a double, two walks, two stolen bases and four runs scored, while first-year Chris Basile (Miami Beach, Fla.) singled, walked twice and scored three times for the Beavers. Senior Michael Cook (Whitman, Mass.) and first-year Cole Collins (Libertyville, Ill.) also drove in two runs apiece in support of classmate Connor Doan (Pasadena, Texas), who improved to 1-1 with his first career win after giving up three earned runs over 5.2 innings.

Senior DJ Perron (Swansea, Mass.) went 3-for-5 with a home run, two RBI and two runs scored and graduate student Chase Stafford (Somerset, Mass.) hit a three-run blast to pace the Corsairs' 13-hit attack. Sophomore Chris Kustigan (Charlton, Mass.) finished 3-for-5 with two RBI and sophomore Devyn Vezina (Coventry, R.I.) and senior Andrew Bryant (Canton, Mass.) both singles twice in the loss.

After trading runs in the first, the Green and White took a 3-1 lead in the second thanks to a sacrifice fly by Savage and a two-out RBI single by Cook. Sophomore Walter Sadowsky (Morristown, N.J.) scored on a wild pitch and first-year Ryan Hvozdovic (Hillsborough, N.J.) and Savage followed with back-to-back sacrifice flies to center extending the Beavers' advantage to 6-1 in the fourth.

Perron answered an RBI double by Sadowsky with a two-run homer in the bottom of the fifth and UMass Dartmouth pulled within 7-6 in the sixth on Stafford's three-run blast to left. Sophomore Matt Milone (Amston, Conn.) escaped a first and second, one-out jam with a double play in the bottom of the seventh and Babson sent 10 men to the plate and scored five times in the top of the eighth.

Santos had an RBI single and scored on Savage's third sacrifice fly of the game make it 9-6, Collins plated Basile with a one-out double to right and O'Brien knocked in two more runs with a two-out single to center to extend the Beavers' lead to 12-6. Despite recording just two hits, the Green and White added four more insurance runs in the top of the ninth highlighted by O'Brien's two-out double that brough home Collins for a 16-6 advantage.

First-year Aidan O'Donnell (Abington, Mass.) started and suffered the loss to drop to 1-1 on the year after giving up four earned runs and striking out three in 3.0 innings. Four of the Corsairs' five relief pitchers also allowed at least one earned run in the loss.

Babson returns to action on Tuesday when it hosts Coast Guard at 3:30 p.m. while UMass Dartmouth travels to nationally-ranked Eastern Connecticut State for a doubleheader on Saturday beginning at 12 p.m.

GAME NOTES
• The Beavers are 15-23 all-time against UMass Dartmouth and have won nine of the last 14 games in the series.
• Savage, who tied Jason Lariviere (Southern Maine, 1995), Shane Mayer (Albright, 1995) and Tim Pavlic (Frostburg State, 1996) with three sacrifice flies in a game, extended his on-base streak to 18 games.
• Santos also stretched his on-base streak to 18 straight contests, while Hvozdovic now has a hit in five consecutive outings.
• Babson walked 11 times on Monday, which is just one shy of its season high, and has now drawn at least bases on balls in 14 straight games going back to March 11.