Baseball vs. Wheaton
Tuesday, April 23 | 3:30 p.m. 
Govoni Field | Babson Park, Mass. 

SERIES HISTORY
•    Babson is 34-57 all-time against Wheaton in a series that dates back to 1998. 
•    The Beavers dropped four of five games to the Lyons last season, which includes a pair of losses in the championship round of the NEWMAC Tournament. 
•    The Green and White won 10 of 11 games in the series from 2017-19 but have lost 10 of its last 12 to Wheaton since the 2021 postseason.

LAST MEETING
•    Robert Wirtanen hit a two-run homer as part of a six-run fourth inning and B Oliveira struck out five in a complete-game effort as Wheaton defeated Babson, 10-2, in the winner-take-all NEWMAC final on May 8, 2023, in Norton, Mass. 
•    Kevin Matos went 2-for-3 with two doubles, an RBI and two runs scored, while Cavan Brady singled twice and knocked in a pair of runs for the Lyons, who jumped on top with three runs in the second inning. 
•    Michael Cook '23 hit a two-run homer in the third inning and Tim Person '23 allowed just one earned run in 5.0 innings of relief for the Beavers, who finished with just five hits in the loss.

SCOUTING THE BEAVERS
•    Babson (17-9, 7-3 NEWMAC) has won 14 of its last 17 games after defeating WPI 19-4 in eight innings in the second game of Sunday's doubleheader. 
•    Graduate student John Nowak went 4-for-5 with a triple, a homer and three RBI, classmate Luke Tanner recorded a pair of extra-base hits and knocked in three runs, and first-year Alexander Wilson added a season-high four hits to go along with three RBI for the Beavers, who scored in every inning but the second. 
•    Senior Brant Savage is batting .364 with 16 doubles, five homers, 26 RBI and 21 runs scored, junior Justin Guest is hitting .355 with seven doubles, two home runs, 15 RBI and 20 runs scored, and senior Tanner Santos boasts a .466 on-base percentage to go along with a .340 average, seven extra-base hits, 18 stolen bases, 22 RBI and a team-high 30 runs scored. 
•    First-year Jason Finkelstein is 4-1 with a 5.68 ERA and 40 strikeouts in 38.0 innings, junior Luke McClintock is 1-1 with a 2.57 ERA in 21.0 innings and sophomore Zander Teator is 3-1 with one save and 15 strikeouts in 9.2 innings of relief this spring. 

SCOUTING THE LYONS
•    Wheaton (15-8, 9-3 NEWMAC) has dropped two of its last three outings on the heels of a five-game winning streak after falling to No. 7 Salve Regina, 7-0, in game two of Sunday's twin bill. 
•    Matos, AJ Guindon, Timmy Wagner and Marcus Rodrigues each recorded two hits apiece for the Lyons, who stranded 11 runners on base in the loss. 
•    Mike Maher is batting .370 with eight extra-base hits, 18 RBI and 24 runs scored, Casey Wensley is hitting .333 with five doubles, 16 RBI and 11 runs scored, and Wagner enters the week with a .330 average to go along with five doubles, four home runs and 20 runs batted in. 
•    Oliveira is 3-1 with a 3.86 ERA and 20 strikeouts in 25.2 innings, Jackson Walsh is 4-0 with a 3.41 ERA in 29.0 innings over 15 relief appearances, and Joe Mulhern owns a 3.86 earned run average and has recorded five saves in 12 games out of the bullpen on the year. 

TIGHT AT THE TOP
•    Entering the final two weeks of the regular season, the top four teams in the NEWMAC standings are separated by just one game in the loss column. 
•    No. 7 Salve Regina is in first place at 10-2, Coast Guard is second at 8-2 and Wheaton (9-3) and Babson (7-3) are tied in the loss column and third and fourth, respectively. 
•    The Beavers travel to Coast Guard for a doubleheader on Saturday and visit Wheaton next Tuesday in a stretch that will decide who receives the top two seeds and a bye into the double elimination portion of the NEWMAC Tournament, which begins on May 8. 

JULIAN EARNS CONFERENCE RECOGNITION
•    After batting .538 (7-for-13) with a double, two RBI, four stolen bases and three walks in four starts, junior Jack Julian was selected as the NEWMAC Player of the Week on Monday. 
•    He singled twice and reached base three times in last Tuesday's 5-4 win over Emerson, was 1-for-3 with two runs scored in a 10-7 victory over Tufts and went 4-for-4 with a double, two RBI, two stolen bases and three runs scored in game two of Sunday's twin bill versus WPI. 

STREAKING BEAVERS
•    Savage is riding an eight-game hitting streak and has produced five doubles and seven RBI during this stretch. 
•    Junior Walter Sadowsky has a hit in eight consecutive starts and has scored a run in six of the eight games. 
•    Nowak has reached base safely in each of his 15 starts this spring and boasts a .478 on-base percentage, while Guest has gotten on in 13 straight games to raise his OBP to .467. 

LEAGUE LEADERS
•    Savage is first in the NEWMAC and ranks fifth in Division III with 16 doubles, and needs just two more to match the program's single-season record of 18 set by Dave Ahern '11 in 2011. 
•    He also ranks fourth in the league in total bases (70) and is seventh in OPS (1.088).
•    Santos ranks second in the conference with 18 stolen bases.

NUMBERS TO KNOW
•    The Beavers are 12-1 this spring at home and have recorded four victories by one or two runs. 
•    Babson is 16-4 on the year when finishing with more hits than its opponents. 
•    The Green and White is 13-1 this season when giving up five runs or fewer. 
•    Babson is 13-2 this year when its pitchers allow two extra-base hits or fewer. 

UP NEXT
•    The Beavers host UMass Boston on Wednesday at 3:30 p.m.