Baseball vs. Springfield
Tuesday, April 28 | 3:30 p.m. 
Govoni Field | Babson Park, Mass. 

SERIES HISTORY
•    Babson is 42-25 all-time against Springfield in a series that dates back to 1996. 
•    The Beavers have won 20 of their last 24 games in the series although all four losses have come in the span of five games since 2023. 
•    The Green and White has won eight straight games versus Springfield at Govoni Field, which includes a doubleheader sweep in 2024. 

LAST MEETING
•    Michael Lepere came through with a two-out, go-ahead single in the bottom of the seventh inning to help the Pride rally to defeat Babson, 6-5, last Tuesday in Springfield, Mass. 
•    Chris Balchius and Tyler Case both finished with four hits and two RBI, Lepere drove in two runs and Ryan Baker and Jake Gombotz combined to throw five shutout innings out of the bullpen for Springfield, which finished with 14 hits and scored four times in the sixth inning to tie the game. 
•    Junior Dante D'Avanzo tripled and drove in two runs, classmate Jack Moses had an RBI double and senior Ryan Liss provided an RBI triple for the Beavers, who scored three runs in the top of the first and led 5-0 going to the bottom of the fifth. 

SCOUTING THE BEAVERS
•    Babson (20-14, 8-5 NEWMAC) has won four straight games after defeating Keene State, 9-4, on Sunday afternoon. 
•    Sophomore Ben Valente went 3-for-4 with a run scored, D'Avanzo and graduate student Ryan Grace both had two hits and two runs batted in, and sophomore Gabe Harmon also finished with a single and two RBI for the Beavers, who got three strikeouts over 7.0 innings from senior Connor Doan. 
•    Valente is batting .368 with five doubles, two home runs, a team-high 14 stolen bases, 28 RBI and 36 runs scored, Grace is batting .357 and leads the team in OPS (1.132), home runs (9), doubles (11), walks (26), RBI (40) and runs scored (40), and D'Avanzo has raised his average to .313 with five doubles, a homer, 24 RBI and 17 runs scored. 
•    Sophomore Graydon Vyse is 1-0 with a 3.98 ERA and 18 strikeouts in 20.1 innings, classmate Dillon James (2-1, 4.32 ERA) has a 1.04 WHIP and is holding opposing hitters to a .185 average, and fellow sophomore Chase Burrows is 4-1 with a 5.63 ERA to go along with 26 strikeouts and just six walks in 40.0 innings pitched. 

SCOUTING THE PRIDE
•    Springfield (21-13, 7-6 NEWMAC) snapped a two-game skid with a 3-1 win over WPI in the back end of Saturday's doubleheader. 
•    Lepere and Casey finished with two hits apiece, Balchius, Kyle Mitchell and Dan Surette each drove in a run, and Nate Kelleher-Mochak struck out five over 8.0 innings for the Pride, which dropped game one to the Engineers, 8-7.
•    Casey is batting .360 with seven doubles, three triples, two home runs, 20 stolen bases, 24 RBI and 34 runs scored, Lepere is hitting .333 with four homers, four doubles, a team-high 30 RBI and 27 runs scored, and Balchius owns a .331 average to go along with eight doubles, three home runs, 18 RBI a team-high 37 runs scored and 24 stolen bases, which leads the conference. 
•    Gombotz (1-2, 3.15 ERA) has one save and 16 strikeouts over 20.0 innings in 11 relief appearances, Baker is 2-1 with a 3.16 ERA to go along with 18 strikeouts in 25.2 innings pitched, and Jack Richburg is 1-2 with a 3.68 ERA and 16 strikeouts over 22.0 innings. 

HOME STRETCH
•    The Beavers enter Tuesday's contest in fourth place at 8-5 in the league standings, a game ahead of Springfield (7-4), a game behind second-place MIT (9-4) and tied in the loss column with Wheaton (9-5). 
•    Babson begins the final week of the regular season with a chance to finish as high as second with a win over Springfield and a sweep of WPI on Saturday. 
•    The top six teams in the standings qualify for the NEWMAC Tournament and the top two seeds earn a bye directly into the double elimination bracket. 

GRACE NAMED NEWMAC PLAYER OF THE WEEK
•    After batting .346 with a .692 slugging percentage and two home runs, three doubles, nine RBI and eight runs scored in six games last week, Grace was tabbed as the league's player of the week on Monday. 
•    He had at least one knock in all six outings and recorded three multi-hit games, which includes homering twice and driving in five runs in last Thursday's 15-4 rout of Johnson & Wales. 

NEWMAC LEADERS
•    Grace is tied for second in the league with 26 walks, fourth in OPS (1.132), home runs (9) and RBI (40), is fifth in total bases (84), doubles (11) and slugging percentage (.651), and also ranks eighth in on-base percentage (.481). 
•    Senior Zander Teator is tied for first having been hit by a pitch 15 times this season, which is one shy of the program record of 16 set by Travis Jonasson '12 in 2011 and matched by Justin Guest '25 last spring. 
•    Liss is tied for second in the conference with three doubles and is tied for eighth with five home runs this spring, while Valente's 14 stolen bases rank 10th.
•    Sophomore Dylan Drazka, who ranks seventh in walks (21) and 12th in stolen bases (12), is one of just two players with 20 or more walks and 10 or more stolen bases. 
•    Junior Jason Finkelstein ranks first among qualified pitchers holding opposing hitters to a .186 batting average and fewest hits allowed per nine innings (5.95), while Burrows ranks fourth in walks allowed per nine innings (1.35). 
•    As a team in 13 conference games, the Green and White has struck out a league-low 75 times and also ranks first in walks (65) and hit batsmen (30), and is second in runs per game (8.0), OBP (.417) and stolen bases (32), and the pitching staff is third in WHIP (1.41) and fourth in walks per nine innings (3.23). 
•    The Beavers have turned a league-best 17 doubles plays and their pitching staff ranks third in WHIP (1.41).

BEAVER BITES
•    Valente boasts a nine-game hitting streak and has reached base safely in 25 straight outings, while Grace has gotten on base in each of the last 14 contests and enters the week with a six-game hitting streak. 
•    D'Avanzo, who has four consecutive multi-hit games, has at least one knock in eight straight games and has reached base safely in 13 straight starts. 
•    Teator has reached base in each of his last 12 outings, Drazka has a hit in eight straight and has reached safely in 10 games in a row, and sophomore Brooks Saft has gotten on base in his last nine starts. 
•    Valente has scored at least one run in 13 of the last 14 contests, while D'Avanzo has driven in a run in seven consecutive games. 
•    Grace leads the team with 14 multi-hit and 13 multi-RBI games, while Valente has recorded two or more hits 10 times and multiple RBI on eight occasions this spring. 

NUMBERS TO KNOW
•    The Beavers are 13-0 this spring when their starting pitcher goes at least six innings.
•    Babson is 14-1 when recording more hits than its opponents and 15-2 when finishing with 10 or more hits. 
•    The Green and White is 13-1 when allowing five runs or fewer. 
•    The Beavers are 19-2 when leading after seven innings this spring. 

UP NEXT
•    Babson will wrap up the regular season with a doubleheader against WPI on Saturday in Worcester, Mass.