DAVENPORT, Fla.—Graduate student Ryan Grace (Concord, Mass.) homered twice and combined with junior Ian Laforest (Waltham, Mass.) to drive in right runs as Babson College edged the University of Saint Joseph (Conn.), 9-8, in non-conference baseball action on Saturday morning at the Northeast Regional Park. 

Babson has won two of its last three games to improve to 2-3. Saint Joseph has dropped back-to-back outings to dip to 7-3 on the season. 

Grace finished the day with three hits, four RBI and three runs scored, while Laforest was 2-for-4 with a double and a career-high four RBI to pace the Beavers' 12-hit attack. Sophomore Dylan Drazka (Rye Brook, N.Y.) went 3-for-4 with a walk and two runs scored, classmate Gabe Cushner (Harrington Park, N.J.) singled, walked and scored twice, and graduate student Michael Camardi (Syosset, N.Y.) struck out two while allowing one run over 3.1 innings of relief to pick up the victory. 

Sophomore Jack Kane (West Hartford, Conn.) was 3-for-4 with a double and two RBI, senior Dom Scalia (Northford, Conn.) singled twice and knocked in a pair of runs, and sophomore Joe Gratta (Bristol, Conn.) added an RBI double and scored three times to lead the Blue Jays, who finished with 14 hits. First-year Carsten Donovan (Cheshire, Conn.) suffered his first loss of the spring after giving up two runs on three hits to go along with two strikeouts in 2.2 innings. 

The Green and White erased an early 2-0 deficit thanks to a two-run homer by Grace with one out in the bottom of the first. Saint Joseph went back in front on Kane's two-out RBI double in the top of the second before the Beavers exploded for five runs in the third. Grace hit another two-run shot for a 4-3 lead, senior Zander Teator (Saratoga Springs, N.Y.) smacked a double to left center that brought home Cushner, and Laforest followed with a two-run single to right that extended the cushion to 7-3. 

The Blue Jays answered with four runs in the top of the fourth, including two-out RBI knocks by Scalia and senior Ryan Quinn (Middletown, Conn.). They then went back in front in the fifth as Gratta got plunked with one out before coming around to score on a single to right by Kane for an 8-7 edge. 

Donovan was chased after giving up consecutive singles to Grace and Cushner with one out in the bottom of the seventh, and Laforest brought them both home with a two-out double to center off Marcus Tarfano (Southington, Conn.) to put Babson ahead 9-8. Graduate student Joe Carrea (Cranford, N.J.) worked around a hit batsman to start the eighth and Teator got a pop up with the potential tying run at second in the ninth to record his second save of the year. 

The Beavers return to action on Sunday at 6 p.m. when they take on Amherst at 6 p.m. at Lake Myrtle Park in Auburndale, Fla. Saint Joseph visits Western New England at 3 p.m. on Tuesday in Springfield, Mass. 

GAME NOTES
•    Saturday's matchup was the first in program history for Babson against Saint Joseph
•    Both of the Beavers' victories have come by a single-run this spring and they are now 10-9 in one-run games since the start of the 2024 campaign. 
•    Grace is the first Babson player to homer twice in a game since Teator achieved the feat on February 28, 2025. 
•    The Beavers are now 22-0 when leading after seven innings dating back to the start of last season.