BABSON PARK, Mass.—Junior Chris Gibbs (New Britain, Conn.) tossed a complete game and first-year Michael Ficocelli (North Providence, R.I.) drove in the go-ahead run in the top of the eighth to help Mitchell College defeat No. 21 Babson College, 4-3, in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament Babson Park Regional on Friday afternoon at Govoni Field. 

Babson, which lost for just the second time in the last 12 games, is now 30-12 on the year, while Mitchell improves to 33-11 with its fourth consecutive victory. 

Senior Brant Savage (Charlton, Mass.) went 2-for-2 with a walk, classmate Luca Rubin (Los Angeles, Calif.) singled twice, drove in a run and scored, and fellow senior Jack Julian (Manchester, Mass.) singled and scored a run for the Beavers. First-year Jason Finkelstein (Walpole, Mass.) dropped to 8-3 on the year with the loss. He struck out five and allowed just one unearned run over 4.0 innings of relief. 

Gibbs was superb for the Mariners, striking out seven and allowing just two earned runs on six hits over nine innings to improve to 10-2 on the season. Ficocelli went 3-for-5 with two doubles, while Robbie DelaCruz (Uncasville, Conn.) was 2-for-3 with a double, two walks and two runs scored as eight players recorded at least one hit in the win. 

Sophomore James Clark (Southborough, Mass.) recorded a pair of strikeouts around a walk before giving up RBI singles to junior Jack Hayes (New Milford, Conn.) and senior Michael Gajda (New Britain, Conn.) as Mitchell built a 2-0 lead in the top of the first. Rubin came through with a two-out RBI knock in the bottom of the second to cut Babson's deficit in half before the Mariners tacked on another run in the top of the fourth. 

Senior Angel Galindez (Carolina, Puerto Rico) scored on classmate Cole Lalli's (Coventry, Conn.) single to left with one out in the frame but DelaCruz was tagged out off third after running through a stop sign and the Beavers gunned down Lalli trying to score from first on Ficocelli's double into the left field corner to end the inning. The Green and White registered just two hits in its first four trip to the plate before starting the fifth with back-to-back singles by Rubin and Julian. They advanced to second and third on a sacrifice bunt by senior Tanner Santos (Bethany, Conn.) and then both raced home on a two-out wild pitch to tie the game at 3-3. 

Finkelstein stranded a pair in scoring position with a strikeout and a fly out to right in the sixth and Mitchell left runners on the corners in the seventh before taking the lead for good in the eighth. DelaCruz singled up the middle and advanced to second on a failed pick off throw before coming around when Ficocelli doubled to shallow right to make it 4-3. 

Savage doubled down the right field line to start the bottom of the eighth but was thrown out by Gibbs on a comebacker on batter later. Gibbs got a strikeout and a ground out to end the frame and then retired the side in order in the ninth. 

Babson will face UMass Dartmouth in an elimination game at 8:30 a.m. on Saturday, while Mitchell takes on No. 9/11 Salisbury at 12 p.m. 

GAME NOTES
•    Friday's game was the first all-time between Babson and Mitchell. 
•    Friday's loss snapped an 10-game winning streak at Govoni Field and dropped the Beavers to 22-2 on the year at home. 
•    With two more hits on Friday, Savage is up to 59 for the season and his 104 total bases rank fourth in single-season program history. 
•    Babson is now 5-4 this spring in one-run games.