GORHAM, Maine—Junior
Ryan Liss (Hollywood, Fla.) hit a first-inning grand slam and seniors
Connor Doan (Pasadena, Texas) and
Zander Teator (Saratoga Springs, N.Y.) combined to retire six of the final seven hitters in a one-run game as Babson College defeated the Rochester Institute of Technology 9-8 in an NCAA Tournament elimination game on Sunday afternoon at Ed Flaherty Field.
With its 11th win the last 13 outings, Babson improves to 27-16 on the year and will face either No. 4/5 Rowan University or the University of Southern Maine in another elimination game on Sunday at 6 p.m. RIT ends its season at 24-15.
Liss was 2-for-3 with four RBI, junior
Dante D'Avanzo (Ashland, Mass.) went 3-for-5 with two RBI and sophomore
Ben Valente (Newton, Mass.) finished 3-for-5 with a double and three runs scored to lead the Beavers. Sophomore
Gabe Cushner (Harrington Park, N.J.) also knocked in two runs and classmate
Graydon Vyse (Glastonbury, Conn.) picked up the win to improve to 4-0 on the year, striking out four while allowing seven runs over 6.1 innings.
Senior Charlie Slaymaker (Fairfax, Va.) homered twice, classmate Trent Rapp (Greene, N.Y.) hit a three-run blast and graduate student Max Matteucci (Bozeman, Mont.) went 2-for-5 with a two-run dinger for the Tigers. Fellow graduate student Dylan Joseph (Hopewell Junction, N.Y.) was tagged with the loss after allowing six runs on four hits in the first inning to fall to 6-1 on the year.
Metteucci staked RIT to a 2-0 lead with his two-run blast with two outs in the top of the first before the Green and White answered with six runs in the bottom of the frame after its first seven hitters reached base. Valente scored from second on a passed ball, D'Avanzo brought home Teator with an RBI single to left and Liss drilled the first pitch he saw over the fence in right center for his second grand slam of the year and a 6-2 advantage.
Cushner came through with a two-out RBI single in the bottom of the second after Slaymaker homered with top outs in the top of the inning, and the Beavers tacked on two more runs in the sixth as sophomore
Dylan Drazka (Rye Brook, N.Y.) score on an RBI ground out by Cushner while Valente came around on D'Avanzo's two-out base hit back up the middle to extend their lead to 9-3.
The Tigers, who came up empty despite having runners on second and third with nobody out in the top of the sixth, got back in the game with a five-run seventh inning that included a solo homer by Slaymaker and a three-run shot by Rapp. RIT also took advantage of two errors that allowed senior Jarin Moses (Union City, Ga.) to score before Doan stranded the tying and go-ahead runs with a strikeout.
Doan worked around a one-out single thanks to a 5-4-3 double play to end the eighth and Teator sandwiched a strikeout in between a pair of flyouts in the ninth to record his eighth save of the year.
GAME NOTES
• Babson is now 2-1 all-time against RIT and Sunday's contest was the first between the teams since 2009.
• Teator's save was the 20th of his career tying him with Matt Cuneo '18 for first place on the program's all-time list.
• The Beavers' eighth-inning double play was their 46th of the season, which matches the program's single-season record set back in 2016.
• The Green and White is now 7-4 on the year in one-run games and has won four in a row going back to the final day of the regular season on May 2.
• Valente scored his 50th run of the season in Sunday's win, which ranks third in single-season history behind Ryan Arena '18 and Brian McHale '19, who scored 54 and 51 runs, respectively, back in 2018.
