Baseball vs. Clark 
Saturday, April 25 | 12 p.m. (DH) 
Govoni Field | Babson Park, Mass. 

SERIES HISTORY
•    Babson is 69-22 all-time against Clark in a series that dates back to 1983.
•    The Beavers have won 12 of their last 13 games versus the Cougars but split last year's doubleheader in Worcester, Mass. 
•    Nine of the last 15 games between the teams have been decided by either one or two runs, which includes three of the last four contests played at Govoni Field since 2023. 
•    The Green and White has won six in a row against Clark at home going back to 2019. 

LAST MEETING
•    Senior Zander Teator and Justin Guest '25 both finished with three hits and two RBI, and junior Jason Finkelstein struck out four over 7.0 innings to help Babson salvage a split with an 11-1 win over Clark in last year's doubleheader on April 4, 2025, in Worcester. 
•    Thomas Parisi M'25 drove in three runs, Guest doubled and homered and Tanner Santos '24 M'25 knocked in two runs for the Beavers, who went in front for good in the top of the fourth thanks to a two-run single by Brant Savage '24 M'25. 
•    Billy Sullivan hit a two-run homer in the second inning for the Cougars, who had just two baserunners over the final four innings against Finkelstein. 

SCOUTING THE BEAVERS
•    Babson (17-14, 6-5 NEWMAC) snapped a three-game skid with a 15-4 seven-inning rout of Johnson & Wales on Thursday afternoon. 
•    Graduate student Ryan Grace homered twice and drove in five runs, junior Dante D'Avanzo was 2-for-4 with an RBI and two runs scored, and classmate Jack Moses singled twice and scored a run for the Beavers, who took advantage of five errors and nine walks as six different players knocked in a run. 
•    Grace is batting .357 and leads the team with nine homers, nine doubles, 25 walks, 36 RBI and 37 runs scored, sophomore Ben Valente is hitting .343 with five doubles, two home runs, 10 stolen bases, 32 RBI and 33 runs scored, and junior Ryan Liss owns a .233 average to go along with four homers, four doubles, three triples, 23 RBI and 20 runs scored on the year. 
•    Finkelstein (2-2, 4.88 ERA) is holding opposing hitters to a .202 average in 31.1 innings, sophomore Dillon James is 2-1 with a 4.50 ERA and boasts a .191 opponents' batting average in 24.0 innings pitched, and graduate student Joe Carrea is 1-2 with a 5.20 ERA and 22 strikeouts in 27.2 innings of work this spring. 

SCOUTING THE COUGARS
•    Clark (19-13, 5-6 NEWMAC) has won three of its last four games but dropped a 16-12 slugfest against Nichols on Thursday afternoon. 
•    Bennett Hewett went 3-for-5 with a home run, two RBI and three runs scored, Dom Mariani was 2-for-3 with a homer and two RBI and Myles Fournier also went deep as part of a two-hit day for the Cougars, who finished with seven extra-base hits in the loss. 
•    Hewett ranks second in the NEWMAC with a .423 average to go along with 13 doubles, five homers, 30 RBI and 47 runs scored, Michael Soares is batting .391 and ranks second in the conference in both homers (12) and doubles (12) to go along with 42 RBI and 34 runs scored, and Mariani is hitting 368 with 12 doubles, 10 home runs, a school-record 49 RBI and 41 runs scored. 
•    Jacob Kline is 2-3 with a 5.77 ERA and 28 strikeouts in 34.1 innings while holding opposing hitters to a .214 average, James Rabbit is 1-0 with a 4.70 ERA in 23.0 innings pitched and Brendan Bruun has gone 2-0 with a 5.96 ERA in 25.2 innings this spring. 

PLAYOFF RACE TAKES SHAPE
•    Babson enters Saturday's slate sitting at 6-5 and in a tie for fourth place in the NEWMAC standings along with Springfield, one game ahead of sixth-place Clark (5-6) and two games better than Coast Guard (6-7) in the loss column. 
•    Salve Regina (9-2), MIT (8-3) and Wheaton (8-4) currently hold the top three spots in the standings although none of them has clinched a spot in next month's conference tournament entering Saturday's action. 

NEWMAC LEADERS
•    Grace is tied for second in the league with 25 walks, fourth in both home runs (9) and RBI (36), and is fifth in OPS (1.160), total bases (77) and slugging percentage (.670). 
•    Teator has been plunked 13 times, which ranks third in the conference and is also just three shy of the single-season program record, Liss is tied for second with three triples and Valente ranks 12th in both runs scored (33) and stolen bases (10). 
•    Sophomore Chase Burrows ranks fourth in the conference in walks allowed per nine innings (1.36).
•    As a team in 11 conference games, the Green and White has struck out a league-low 64 times and ranks first in walks (58) and hit batsmen (27), second in OBP (.420), and the pitching staff is third in WHIP (1.53) and fourth in walks per nine innings (3.23). 

BEAVER BITES
•    Valente has reached base safely in 22 straight outings and is currently riding a six-game hitting streak in addition to scoring at least one run in nine of the last 10 contests. 
•    Grace, who's nine home runs are tied for ninth on the program's single-season list, leads the Beavers with 12 multi-hit and 11 multi-RBI games this season. He also has reached base safely in his last 11 starts. 
•    D'Avanzo, Moses and sophomore Dylan Drazka all enter Saturday's doubleheader with a hit in each of their last five games, while Teator and D'Avanzo have reached safely in 10 straight outings.
•    In two career starts against Clark, Finkelstein is 2-0 with a 1.29 ERA and eight strikeouts over 14.0 innings pitched. 
•    Over his last four relief appearances, graduate student Michael Camardi owns a 1.50 ERA and has recorded eight strikeouts over 6.0 innings. 

NUMBERS TO KNOW
•    The Beavers are 10-0 this spring when their starting pitcher goes at least 6.0 innings. 
•    Babson is 11-1 when recording more hits than its opponents and is 12-2 when it finishes with at least 10 hits. 
•    The Green and White is 10-1 on the year when allowing five or fewer runs. 
•    The Beavers are 16-2 this season when leading after seven innings. 

UP NEXT
•    Babson plays its non-conference finale on Sunday when it travels to Keene State at 12 p.m.