Baseball at WPI 
Saturday, May 2 | 12 p.m. (DH)
Granger Field (Clark University) | Worcester, Mass. 

WHAT TO KNOW
•    The Babson baseball team will travel to Granger Field on the campus of Clark University for its final doubleheader of the regular season against WPI on Saturday beginning at 12 p.m. 

SERIES HISTORY
•    Babson is 59-25 all-time against WPI in a series that dates back to 1983.
•    The Beavers have won 14 of their last 16 contests versus the Engineers since 2018, which includes a sweep of last year's doubleheader at Govoni Field. 
•    The last 10 games between the squads have been played at Govoni Field and Saturday's twin bill marks the first time the teams will meet outside of Babson Park since the 2019 NEWMAC Tournament when they played a pair of games in Northborough, Mass. 

LAST MEETING
•    Senior Zander Teator and junior Jack Moses both homered and fellow junior Jason Finkelstein struck out four over seven shutout innings to help the Beavers defeat WPI, 9-0, to complete a sweep of a doubleheader on April 19, 2025, in Babson Park. 
•    Moses was 3-for-4 with a three-run homer, Teator was 2-for-4 with three RBI and two runs scored, and Tanner Santos '24 M'25 finished with two hits and an RBI double for Babson, which broke the game open with a five-run seventh inning. 
•    Tommy Burns and Chuck Cappello both doubled as seven different players recorded a hit for the Engineers, who saw Luke Blandino give up four runs over 6.0 innings. 

SCOUTING THE BEAVERS
•    Babson (20-15, 8-6 NEWMAC) has won four of its last five games but is coming off a 2-1 loss to Springfield in its regular season home finale on Tuesday afternoon. 
•    Graduate student Ryan Grace went 3-for-3 with a walk, Teator was 2-for-4 with a run scored and sophomore Graydon Vyse struck out five and allowed just one earned run over 8.0 innings for the Beavers, who left the bases loaded after tying the game in the bottom of the eighth. 
•    Grace is batting .371 and leads the team in OPS (1.153), home runs (9), doubles (11), walks (27), RBI (40) and runs scored (40), Valente is hitting .368 with five doubles, two home runs, a team-high 14 stolen bases, 28 RBI and 36 runs scored, and junior Dante D'Avanzo owns a .310 average to go along with five doubles, a home run, 24 RBI and 17 runs scored. 
•    Finkelstein (3-2, 3.89 ERA), who has won his last two starts, is holding opposing hitters to a .186 average and has 31 strikeouts in 39.1 innings pitched, graduate student Joe Carrea is 2-2 with a 4.54 ERA and 30 strikeouts in 35.2 innings, and sophomore Chase Burrows is 4-1 with a 5.63 ERA to go along with 26 strikeouts against just six walks in a team-high 40.0 innings this spring. 

SCOUTING THE ENGINEERS
•    WPI (15-20, 3-11 NEWMAC) has dropped three straight contests after falling 8-7 in 11 innings to No. 21 Tufts on Wednesday afternoon. 
•    Greyson Baldizar went 2-for-4 with a home run, a double and five RBI, Andrew Flaimini singled three times and scored a run, and Ethan Smith and Brian Riley combined to allow just one run over 5.1 innings of relief for the Engineers, who carried a 7-5 lead into the bottom of the sixth inning.
•    Liam Keblin is batting .341 with two homers, five doubles, 15 RBI and 17 runs scored, Cappello is hitting .314 with three doubles, three homers, 20 RBI and team highs of 13 stolen bases and 30 runs scored, and Jack Zawacki has a .303 average and leads the team with 11 doubles and 23 RBI to go along with three home runs and 25 runs scored. 
•    Jacob Wiberg (3-2, 4.91 ERA) has 53 strikeouts in 44.0 innings, Brian Riley is 2-0 with a 2.11 ERA and 21 strikeouts in 21.1 innings over 15 relief appearances, and the trio of Alex Hee (2-2, 3.34 ERA), Robert Runge (1-1, 3.80 ERA) and Mason Walls (0-3, 4 saves) own a 3.64 earned run average over 76.2 combined innings of work on the year. 

PLAYOFF POSITION
•    The Beavers are among a group of four teams that enters the final day of the regular season separated by just one game in the standings as they sit at 8-6 along with Springfield, just one game behind both Wheaton and MIT, who are 9-5. 
•    Babson, which can still finish as the No. 2 seed with a sweep and some help (Clark beating Wheaton twice and MIT and Springfield splitting their doubleheader), would secure home field for the first round of the NEWMAC Tournament on Wednesday with a pair of wins over the Engineers. 
•    The top six teams qualify for the conference tournament, which begins with a pair of elimination games on Wednesday before four teams start the double-elimination portion of the championship next Friday. 

STARTING PITCHING BRINGING THEIR BEST STUFF
•    In four games going back to last Saturday's doubleheader against Clark, the quartet of Finkelstein, Carrea, Vyse and senior Connor Doan have combined to allow just six earned runs over 31.0 innings, which is good for a 1.74 ERA, to go along with a 0.71 WHIP and 25 strikeouts. 
•    Finkelstein and Carrea both gave the Green and White 8.0 innings while combining for 17 strikeouts in last Saturday's sweep of Clark, Doan fanned three and gave up four runs in his longest outing of the season (7.0 IP) last Sunday at Keene State, and Vyse recorded the longest outing of his career going 8.0 innings and striking out five on Tuesday versus Springfield. 

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 third in the league with 26 walks, ranks fourth in home runs (9) and RBI (40), fifth in total bases (87), sixth in OPS (1.153) and doubles (11), seventh in hits (49) and is eighth in OBP (.494) and runs scored (40). 
•    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. 
•    Junior Ryan Liss is tied for second in the conference with three triples and tied for eighth with five home runs this spring, while Valente's 14 stolen bases rank 11th.
•    Sophomore Dylan Drazka, who ranks ninth in walks (21) and 13th in stolen bases (12), is one of just five players in the league with 20 or more walks and 10 or more stolen bases. 
•    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 through its first 14 conference games, Babson ranks first in walks (67) and hit batsmen (30), and second in both stolen bases (35) and on-base percentage (.408), while the pitching staff is third in WHIP (1.36) and opponents' batting average (.257). 

BEAVER BITES
•    Valente boasts a 10-game hitting streak and has reached base safely in 26 straight outings, while Grace has gotten on base in each of the last 15 contests and enters the weekend with a seven-game hitting streak. 
•    D'Avanzo, who has four multi-hit games in his last five starts, has at least one knock in nine straight games and has reached base safely in 14 consecutive outings. 
•    Teator has reached base in each of his last 13 starts and sophomore Brooks Saft has gotten on base in his last nine starts. 
•    Grace leads the team with 15 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 rank third in Division III in doubles plays per game (1.03) and 10th nationally with 36 twin killings on the year. 
•    Babson is 13-1 on the year when it starter goes at least six innings and 13-2 when it allows five runs or fewer.
•    The Green and White is 14-2 when recording more hits than its opponents and has finished with multiple extra-base hits in 16 of its 20 victories. 
•    The Beavers are 5-5 this spring in games decided by either one or two runs. 

UP NEXT
•    Babson will find out who it will face in its opening game of the NEWMAC Tournament when the bracket is unveiled late Saturday afternoon.