BABSON PARK, Mass.—Graduate student Ryan Grace (Concord, Mass.) belted two home runs and finished with five RBI to help Babson College defeat visiting Johnson & Wales University 15-4 in seven innings in non-conference baseball action on Thursday afternoon at Govoni Field. 

Babson, which snapped a three-game skid improves to 17-14 on the year with the victory. Johnson & Wales, which lost for just the second time in its last six outings, is now 12-21 overall. 

Juniors Jack Moses (Belle Mead, N.J.) and Dante D'Avanzo (Ashland, Mass.) both recorded two hits, while classmate Ian Laforest (Waltham, Mass.) and sophomores Ben Valente (Newton, Mass.) and Gabe Harmon (Cape Elizabeth, Maine) each drove in a run for the Beavers, who took advantage of eight walks and five errors by the visitors. Senior Connor Doan (Pasadena, Texas) improved to 3-0 with the win after allowing two unearned runs over 3.0 innings, and graduate student Michael Camardi (Syosset, N.Y.) recorded a pair of strikeouts in an inning of relief. 

Senior Jack Obert (Plymouth, Mass.) went 1-for-2 with two walks and a run scored for the Wildcats, who tied their season low with five hits. First-year Jake Scharlat (Port Washington, N.Y.) was tagged with the loss to drop to 1-1 after giving up five earned runs on five hits and four walks over 2.0 innings. 

Grace atoned for an error in the top of the first with a two-run blast to right to give the Green and White a 3-2 advantage in the bottom of the inning. Doan stranded runners on the corners in the top of the third thanks to a fly ball to center and the Beavers batted around and scored six times in the bottom of the frame to bust the game open. 

Laforest drew a bases-loaded walk, D'Avanzo followed with an RBI single that brought home a pair of runs thanks to an error, and Laforest scored two batters later on a throwing error to make it 7-2. Babson took advantage of another Johnson & Wales miscue one batter later as first-year Wyatt Miller (Cohasset, Mass.) brought home D'Avanzo with a squeeze bunt and Harmon raced around from first on a throwing error to extend the lead to 9-2. 

The Wildcats got an RBI single from sophomore Yedan Diaz (Worcester, Mass.) in the fourth and a bases-loaded walk to classmate Jeremy Auren (Framingham, Mass.) in the fifth to cut their deficit to 10-4, but Grace launched a three-run homer to right to stretch the Beavers' advantage back to 13-4 in the bottom half of the inning. Harmon walked with the bases jammed to make it a 10-run difference in the sixth and Harmon scored on a sacrifice fly by Valente for the final margin. 

Both teams will play doubleheaders on Saturday as Babson hosts Clark at 12 p.m., while Johnson & Wales takes on Endicott beginning at 1 p.m. 

GAME NOTES
•    The Beavers are 10-2 all-time against Johnson & Wales and have won five of the last six games in the series since 2018.
•    Grace's nine home runs are tied for fifth in single-season program history and are the most since Brant Savage '24 M'25 hit 11 bombs in 2023. 
•    Valente extended his on-base streak to 22 games and has scored at least one run in 10 of the last 11 contests. 
•    Babson is 9-1 this season when scoring 10 or more runs.