AUBURNDALE, Fla.—Sophomore Ryan Liss (Hollywood, Fla.) drove in a career-high four runs and No. 18 D3baseball.com/No. 30 ABCA Babson College built an early six-run lead before holding off the University of Scranton, 9-8, in non-conference baseball action on at the RussMatt Invitational on Tuesday afternoon. 

With the win, Babson improves to 6-2 on the year. Scranton, which had its four-game winning streak snapped, drops to 5-5 overall with the loss. 

Graduate student Jack Julian (Manchester, Mass.) and junior Ryan Hvozdovic (Hillsborough, N.J.) both went 2-for-3 with two walks and two runs scored, graduate student Tanner Santos (Bethany, Conn.) was 2-for-3 with a double and two RBI and junior Owen Stephens (Glastonbury, Conn.) also knocked in pair of runs for the Beavers. First-year Elias Raptis (Boca Raton, Fla.) picked up the first win of his career out of the bullpen and junior Zander Teator (Saratoga Springs, N.Y.) struck out four and recorded the final six outs for his third save. 

Junior John Heitzman (Fairfield, Conn.) went 3-for-5 with an RBI and two runs scored, senior TJ Pleban (Sugarloaf, Pa.) went 2-for-3 with a double and two RBI, and classmate Jake Elston (New Milford, Conn.) singled twice and scored a run to pace the Royals. Senior Dominic Chieffalo (Norristown, Pa.) fell to 0-1 on the year with the loss after giving up six runs on six hits and three walks in 3.0 innings. 

The Green and White jumped on Chieffalo as Santos led off with a double, senior Justin Guest (West Windsor, N.J.) singled and Hvozdovic walked before Liss cleared the bases with a double to deep right center. Liss scored on a sacrifice fly by Stephens to make it 4-0 and the Beavers tacked on two more runs in the second as graduate student Thomas Parisi (Somers, N.Y.) and Julian scored on a sharp single to left by Santos for a 6-0 advantage. 

Babson first-year Chase Burrows (Cream Ridge, N.J.) cruised through the first three innings before Scranton started the bottom of the fourth with three consecutive singles to get on the board. First-year Joey Granko (Old Forge, Pa.) brought home junior Conor Campbell (Wilmington, Del.) with an RBI ground out, Pleban plated Heitzman with a ground-rule double to right to make it 6-3, sophomore Jake Lopez (Oakland, N.J.) raced home on a sacrifice fly by junior Logan Mason (Flemington, N.J.) and Pleban scored on a wild pitch to cap the uprising and cut the Royals' deficit to 6-5. 

The Beavers left the bases loaded in both the fourth and fifth innings before adding to its lead in the sixth when Liss brought home Hvozdovic with a sacrifice fly. Julian led off the seventh with a single and later scored on a sacrifice fly by Santos extending the margin to 8-5, while Stephens brought home Liss with his second sacrifice fly of the day to make it a four-run game in the top of the eighth.

Scranton started the bottom of the frame with four straight hits to pull within 9-7 and Mason brought home Lopez with a sacrifice fly to cut the Babson lead to one. Teator fanned back-to-back hitters to get out of the inning and struck out two more in the ninth to secure the victory. 

Both teams are back in action on Wednesday as Babson takes on No. 19/25 Rutgers-Camden at 2:45 p.m. in Davenport, Fla., while Scranton faces UMass Boston at 10 a.m. in Auburndale. 

GAME NOTES
•    The Beavers are now 1-1 all-time against Scranton.
•    Babson is now 3-0 this season when scoring at least six runs and 3-0 in games decided by one run. 
•    The Green and White is 4-0 this season and 29-1 dating back to the start of last year when leading after six innings. 
•    Guest and Hvozdovic both extended their hitting streaks to four games, while Santos has reached base safely in each of his last four outings.