SPRINGFIELD, Mass.—Springfield College got strong pitching performances from graduate student JP Catellier (Springfield, Mass.) and junior Nate Kelleher-Mochak (Florence, Mass.) en route to a sweep of visiting Babson College in New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) baseball action on Saturday afternoon at Archie Allen Field. 

Babson, which has dropped four of its last five games, ends the regular season at 23-12 overall and 8-8 in conference play, and will be the sixth seed in next week's league tournament. Springfield won its final three games of the season to improve to 14-22 overall and 6-10 in the NEWMAC. 

Game 1: Springfield 5, Babson 4 (11 inn.) 
Sophomore Ryan Liss (Hollywood, Fla.) went 3-for-4 with a double and an RBI, graduate Brant Savage (Charlton, Mass.) singled twice and had two RBI and classmate Tanner Santos (Bethany, Conn.) also had a pair of singles and scored twice for the Beavers, who finished with 14 but stranded 12 runners on base. Senior Walter Sadowsky (Morristown, N.J.) and first-year Gabe Cushner (Harrington Park, N.J.) also added a pair of hits, while fellow rookie Chase Burrows (Cream Ridge, N.J.) suffered his first loss of the year after giving up just one earned run to go along with three strikeouts in 7.1 innings of relief. 

The Pride's top four batters, sophomore Chris Balchius (Norwalk, Conn.), junior Jack Dunaisky (Longmeadow, Mass.), senior Michael Lepere (Beacon, N.Y.) and sophomore Nate Garafalo (Kinderhook, N.Y.) combined for 10 of the team's 14 hits, five RBI and three runs scored. Catellier settled for a no-decision after giving up just one earned run over 6.0 innings, while Jack Richburg (Hinesburg, Vt.) recorded his first career victory with two shutout innings of relief. 

Garafalo made it 2-0 with his one-out single to center in the first and hit a solo homer to right in the third to give the hosts a three-run lead. Springfield struck again in the fourth, taking advantage of an error before Dunaisky came through with a two-out RBI knock to right to extend the margin to 4-0. 

The Green and White left runners on base in each of the first four innings before cutting its deficit in half with a sacrifice fly by Liss and an RBI single by Savage in the top of the fifth. Graduate student Thomas Parisi (Somers, N.Y.) brought home junior Owen Stephens (Glastonbury, Conn.) with an RBI ground out in the eighth and Savage tied it with another RBI single in the top of the ninth. 

Pride sophomore Ryan Delaney (Ellington, Conn.) recorded back-to-back strikeouts with runners on second and third in the top of the ninth, while Lepere gunned down the potential go-ahead run at the plate in the top of the 11th to keep the game deadlocked. Burrows retired nine consecutive batters before plunking junior Ryan Duffy (Stafford Springs, Conn.) to start the bottom of the 11th. The Beavers intentionally walked Balchius to keep the double play in order but Dunaisky brought home Duffy with the game-winning run with a single to left. 

Game 2: Springfield 5, Babson 1
Sadowsky went 2-for-4 with an RBI and Savage doubled for Babson, which was limited to just four hits. Sophomore Jason Finkelstein (Walpole, Mass.) started an struck out three in three innings before handing the ball to junior Connor Doan (Pasadena, Texas), who suffered the loss after giving up two runs on three hits in an inning of work. 

Balchius finished with two RBI and Kelleher-Mochak struck out five while giving up just one run on four hits over 5.2 innings to improve to 2-2 with the win.

The Green and White left five on base over the first four innings and fell behind 2-0 in the bottom of the fourth as Garafalo tripled and scored on a sacrifice fly before Adam Crocker (Windsor, Nova Scotia) laced a two-out triple to center that brough home another run. Springfield doubled its lead in the fifth as Balchius hit a solo homer and Garafalo reached on an error allowing Dunaisky to race home. 

The Beavers got on the board in the top of the sixth as Savage led off with a double and scored on Sadowsky's RBI ground out two batters later. They were unable to get any closer though as three Pride relievers combined to not allow a hit over the final three frames. 

Babson will travel to Cambridge to face third-seeded MIT in the opening game of the NEWMAC Tournament on Wednesday at 3:30 p.m. 

GAME NOTES
•    The Beavers are now 42-24 all-time against Springfield and entered the day having won 20 of the last 21 games between the teams before suffering its first sweep at the hands of the Pride since 2013. 
•    Senior Justin Guest (West Windsor, N.J.) matched a single-season school record with his 16th hit by pitch in game one. 
•    Liss (29) and Guest (23) both extended their on-base streaks, while Savage is now first on the team with 15 multi-hit games. 
•    Five of Babson's eight conference losses have come by one or two runs.