DAVENPORT, Fla.—Sophomore Ben Valente (Newton, Mass.) went 3-for-4 with two RBI and senior James Clark (Southborough, Mass.) allowed just one earned run over five innings as Babson College defeated Franklin & Marshall College, 9-3, at the Northeast Regional Park on Thursday morning. 

Babson, which concluded its trip to Florida with two straight wins, improves to 4-6 on the season. Franklin & Marshall had its three-game winning streak snapped and is now 9-4 with this spring. 

Senior Zander Teator (Saratoga Springs, N.Y.) went 2-for-5 with two RBI, sophomore Dylan Drazka (Rye Brook, N.Y.) and junior Dante D'Avanzo (Ashland, Mass.) both doubled and combined to drive in three runs, and classmate Connor Frickey (Colorado Springs, Colo.) tripled and scored twice to lead the Beavers. Clark struck out four and gave up just one hit to improve to 1-2 with the win. 

Senior Nolan McCloskey (Collegeville, Pa.) went 2-for-4 with a double and classmate Matt Hollender (Short Hills, N.J.) homered for the Diplomats, who were limited to a season-low three hits in the loss. Fellow senior Kiernan Keller (Colorado Springs, Colo.) dropped to 1-1 with the loss after allowing three earned runs and striking out six over 4.2 innings. 

Frickey tripled to lead off the top of the second and scored on an RBI ground out by junior Ryan Liss (Hollywood, Fla.) for a 1-0 lead, Clark escaped unscathed after walking the bases loaded in the bottom of the inning and the Green and White doubled its advantage in the third as Valente singled, stole second and moved to third on a passed ball before scoring on Drazka's sacrifice fly. 

Valente and Teator both produced RBI singles in the fourth to make it 4-0 before Franklin & Marshall responded with two runs of its own in the bottom of the frame. First-year Tommy Truzzolino (Bayville, N.J.) walked and later scored on an error, while McCloskey doubled and come home on Hollender's RBI ground out to second to cut its deficit to 4-2. The Beavers left the bases loaded in the fifth and stranded a runner in scoring position in both the sixth and seventh innings before busting the game open with a five-run eighth. 

Junior Jack Moses (Belle Mead, N.J.) brought home Frickey with a sacrifice fly extending the margin to 5-2, and Babson followed with four consecutive hits, including back-to-back RBI doubles by D'Avanzo and Drazka, to push its advantage to 9-2. Hollender got a run back with his second homer of the year in the bottom of the eighth but Beavers' graduate student Joe Carrea (Cranford, N.J.) retired the final five batters he faced. 

Babson is off until next Tuesday when it hosts Wheaton in its NEWMAC opener at 3:30 p.m. Franklin & Marshall is set to play a doubleheader against Worcester State on Friday in Florida beginning at 1:30 p.m. 

GAME NOTES
•    The Beavers are now 4-0 all-time against Franklin & Marshall. 
•    Babson is now 4-1 this spring when scoring at least six runs. 
•    Despite having his nine-game hitting streak snapped in Thursday's win, graduate student Ryan Grace (Concord, Mass.) hit .385 with three homers, a double, 11 RBI and 10 runs scored in seven games in Florida, and has reached base safely in all 10 contests this season.