BABSON PARK, Mass.—Senior Ryan Hvozdovic (Hillsborough, N.J.) drove in four runs and sophomore Chase Burrows (Cream Ridge, N.J.) struck out six over seven innings to help Babson College earn a split of Saturday's New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) baseball doubleheader with a 14-1 seven-inning game-two win over visiting MIT on Saturday afternoon at Govoni Field. 

The Beavers, who dropped the opener 12-11, are now 12-11 overall and 4-3 in conference play. MIT is now 10-13 overall and 7-2 in the NEWMAC with Saturday's split. 

Game 2: Babson 14, MIT 1 (7 inn.)
First-year Bobby Christensen (Scotch Plains, N.J.) doubled, walked three times and had three RBI, graduate student Ryan Grace (Concord, Mass.) went 2-for-3 with two walks and three runs scored, and junior Dante D'Avanzo (Ashland, Mass.) and senior Zander Teator (Saratoga Springs, N.Y.) added two hits apiece for the Beavers, who finished with 10 hits and 14 walks in the rout. Burrows improved to 4-1 on the year after giving up just one run on three hits while taking advantage of three double plays in a complete-game effort. 

Junior John Dwyer (Northport, N.Y.) hit a solo homer and first-year James Dempsey (Grand Rapids, Mich.) doubled for the Engineers, who saw five of their seven pitchers allow at least one run. Senior Cole Foster (Austin, Texas), who faced just four batters, suffered the loss in his season debut. 

Christensen drew a bases-loaded walk and Hvozdovic followed with a sacrifice fly to make it 2-0 in the first before the Green and White busted the game open with a six-run second inning. Sophomore Ben Valente (Newton, Mass.) got things started with a two-run single through the right side, Christensen followed with an RBI double to make it 5-1 and D'Avanzo and Teator both brought home a run before Hvozdovic scored on a wild pitch extending the margin to 8-1. 

Christensen walked with the bases loaded again to start a four-run fifth that also included a two-run single by Hvozdovic and a sacrifice fly from D'Avanzo to make it 12-1. 

Game 1: MIT 12, Babson 11
Grace went 2-for-2 with a home run, two walks and four RBI, Christensen was 3-for-5 with a double and sophomores Gabe Harmon (Cape Elizabeth, Maine) and Dylan Drazka (Rye Brook, N.Y.) both had two hits and scored three times for the Beavers. Valente added two hits, two RBI and two runs scored, D'Avanzo singled twice and junior Jason Finkelstein (Walpole, Mass.) struck out seven and allowed three earned runs over 6.0 innings while settling for a no-decision. 

Dwyer and senior Eitan Moore (Jerusalem, Israel) both homered as part of multi-hit games and combined to drive in eight runs, while Dempsey went 3-for-4 with four runs scored to lead the Engineers. 

The Green and White scored three runs in the first and extended its lead to 6-2 in the fifth thanks to a three-run bomb by Grace to right. Moore came through with a two-out, two-run single to pull MIT back within two in the top of the sixth before the Beavers responded with two of their own in the bottom of the frame thanks to an RBI single by Valente and Drazka racing home on a wild pitch to regain a four-run advantage. 

Babson sophomore Dillon James (Attleboro, Mass.) breezed through the seventh before running into trouble in the eighth as the Engineers pulled within 8-5 on an RBI ground out before Moore smashed a three-run homer to center to tie the game. The Green and White answered back with RBI singles by Valente and Christensen around a sacrifice fly by sophomore Gabe Cushner (Harrington Park, N.J.) to regain an 11-8 edge in the bottom of the inning. 

The lead was short-lived though, as senior Zev Moore (Jerusalem, Israel) led off with a single, sophomore John Spivey (St. Louis, Mo.) walked and Dwyer hammered a three-run homer to right to tie the game with nobody out in the top of the ninth. Dempsey singled to left and advanced to third on a failed pickoff throw before scoring on a wild pitch to give the Engineers their first lead of the game. 

Senior Owen Malone (Portsmouth, R.I.) retired the side in order in the ninth to record his second save of the year. Teator, who was a perfect 4-for-4 in save chances entering the day, was tagged with the loss for the Beavers. 

Both teams are back in action on Tuesday as Babson hosts No. 4/4 Salve Regina at 3:30 p.m., while MIT takes on Clark at 7 p.m. in Weymouth, Mass. 

GAME NOTES
•    The Beavers are 64-44-1 all-time against MIT and the teams have split their last 12 games since 2022.
•    Prior to dropping game one, Babson had been 10-0 this season and 67-0 since the start of the 2023 campaign when leading after eight innings. 
•    Cushner's four walks in the game-two win are the most by a Babson player since April 23, 2022, while Ike Kiely '24 was issued four free passes by MIT. 
•    The Beavers' 14 walks in game two are their most since finishing with 19 in a 23-1 victory over Emerson during the pandemic-shortened 2021 campaign.