Baseball vs. WPI
Saturday, April 8 | 12 p.m. (DH)
Govoni Field | Babson Park, Mass.
Babson: Roster | Schedule & Results | Stats
WPI: Roster | Schedule & Results | Stats
NEWMAC: Standings | Schedule & Results | Stats
D3baseball Top 25 poll
SERIES HISTORY
• Babson is 55-25 all-time against WPI in a series that dates back to 1983.
• The Beavers have won nine of their last 10 games against the Engineers, which includes sweeping a pair of regular season meetings last April.
• The Green and White has won its last six games against WPI at Govoni Field since 2018.
LAST MEETING
• Sophomore Walter Sadowsky went 3-for-4 with a home run and senior Tim Noone allowed just one run over 7.0 innings to help the Beavers defeat WPI, 7-1, on April 10, 2022, in Babson Park.
• Junior Ike Kiely hit a two-run homer in the first inning, Sadowsky added a solo blast in the sixth and Noone fanned seven for the Beavers, who built an early 4-0 lead.
• Andrew Brooks went 2-for-3 with an RBI double for the Engineers, who were limited to just five hits in the loss.
SCOUTING THE BEAVERS
• Babson (12-8, 2-1 NEWMAC) has won 10 of its last 11 games and is coming off a 13-2 victory at Brandeis on Wednesday.
• Senior Jackson Kelly hit a solo home run in the second, first-year Ryan Hvozdovic went 4-for-5 with a double, four RBI and three runs scored, and senior Michael O'Brien and first-year Chris Basile drove in two runs apiece for the Beavers, who got hits from 10 different players.
• Hvozdovic is batting .420 with three doubles, two home runs, 16 RBI and 18 runs scored, senior Michael Cook is hitting .359 with three extra-base hits and 16 runs batted in and junior Brant Savage owns .346 average to go along with six homers and a team-high 21 runs batted in.
• Noone (2-1, 0.99 ERA) has 43 strikeouts and just four walks in 36.1 innings and is holding opposing hitters to a .149 average, senior Anthony St. John is 3-0 with a 2.45 ERA and classmate Stephen McLendon (2-0, 3.86 ERA) has one save and 10 strikeouts in 11.2 innings this spring.
SCOUTING THE ENGINEERS
• WPI (11-10, 1-2 NEWMAC) has dropped four of its last five games and is coming off a 4-3 setback at Rhode Island College on Thursday.
• Senior Jeffrey Brennan went 3-for-4 with a double and junior Jacob Hand finished 2-for-4 with a two-run double for the Engineers, who built an early 3-1 lead but were limited to just two hits over the final five innings.
• Brennan is batting .474 with eight doubles, two homers, nine stolen bases, 26 RBI and 24 runs scored, Hand is hitting .375 with 11 extra-base hits, nine stolen bases and 22 runs scored, and senior Kyle Johns enters the weekend with a .286 average to go along with five doubles, two home runs and 20 runs batted in.
• Senior Everett Wonson (2-0, 3.15 ERA) has 24 strikeouts in 20.0 innings and is holding opposing batters to a .215 average, junior Joseph Peregrim is 1-2 with a 6.55 ERA in 22.0 innings and senior Jack Gomes is 3-0 with a 4.18 earned run average in eight appearances on the year.
MOUND PRESENCE
• Noone enters the weekend ranked first in Division III in WHIP (0.61), ninth in hits allowed per nine innings (4.46), 13th in strikeout-to-walk ratio (10.75) and 30th in walks per nine innings (0.99).
• St. John ranks 14th in Division III in walks per nine innings (0.70) and 24th in strikeout-to-walk ratio (8.50), while junior Tristen Spalter is 22nd in in walks per nine innings (0.89) and 29th in strikeout-to-walk ratio (8.25).
SETTING THE TABLE
• Babson's leadoff hitter, junior Tanner Santos, has reached base safely in 20 consecutive games going back to the final game of the 2022 campaign.
• He leads the NEWMAC with 21 walks and is second in the conference with nine stolen bases, and also leads the Beavers with a .483 on-base percentage and 19 runs scored.
LET MIKE COOK
• One of just two players to start all 20 games this season, Cook has at least one hit in 18 starts and has reached base in all but one outing this spring.
• He's tied for third on the team with seven multi-hit games and ranks 11th in the NEWMAC in RBI (16) and 12th in both batting average (.354) and total bases (32).
BEAVER BITES
• Hvozdovic, who leads the team with 10 multi-hit games, has at least one hit in seven consecutive games.
• Basile is riding a six-game hitting streak and has struck out just twice in 66 plate appearances this spring.
• In three starts this week, O'Brien is batting .385 (5-for-13) with two doubles and six runs batted in, which includes driving in the game-winning run in the bottom of the ninth in Tuesday's 2-1 win over Coast Guard.
NUMBERS TO KNOW
• The Beavers are 7-1 this season and have won 19 of their last 20 games when allowing two runs or fewer going back to the start of the 2022 campaign.
• Babson is 11-2 when recording at least two extra-base hits this spring.
• Including this season's 6-0 start, the Beavers have won 14 of their last 15 games at home and are 54-11 at Govoni Field going back to 2018.
• The Green and White is 10-1 on the year when leading after seven innings.
UP NEXT
• The Beavers travel to New London, Conn., to take on Coast Guard on Tuesday at 3:30 p.m.
