Baseball vs. Clark
NEWMAC Tournament | Game 2
Tuesday, May 5 | 3:30 p.m.
Govoni Field | Babson Park, Mass. 

WHAT TO KNOW
•    Third-seeded Babson will host sixth-seeded Clark in a NEWMAC Tournament play-in game on Tuesday afternoon at Govoni Field with the winner advancing to the four-team double-elimination portion of the bracket. 

TOURNAMENT SCHEDULE
Tuesday, May 5
Game 1: No. 6 Clark at No. 3 Babson, 3:30 p.m.
Game 2: No. 4 MIT at No. 5 Springfield, 3:30 p.m.

Friday, May 8
Game 3: Winner Game 2 at No. 1 Salve Regina, 3 p.m. 
Game 4: Winner Game 1 at No. 2 Wheaton, 3:30 p.m.

Saturday, May 9 | at Salve Regina (Newport, R.I.)
Game 5: Loser Game 3 vs. Loser Game 4, 9:30 a.m.
Game 6: Winner Game 3 vs. Winner Game 4, 12:30 p.m.
Game 7: Winner Game 5 vs. Loser Game 6, 3:30 p.m.

Sunday, May 10 | at highest remaining seed
Game 8: Winner Game 6 vs. Winner Game 7, 11 a.m.
Game 9: if necessary, 2 p.m. 

SERIES HISTORY
•    Babson is 71-22 all-time against Clark in a series that dates back to 1983.
•    The Beavers have won 14 of their last 15 games versus the Cougars after sweeping this year's regular season doubleheader back on April 25. 
•    Nine of the last 17 games between the teams have been decided by either one or two runs, which includes three of the last six contests played at Govoni Field since 2023. 
•    The Green and White has won eight in a row against Clark at home going back to 2019. 

POSTSEASON HISTORY
•    Babson is 4-4 all-time against Clark in the postseason and 3-3 versus the Cougars in NEWMAC Tournament play. 
•    The Green and White defeated Clark 4-2 in the opening round of the 2023 conference tournament, which marked the first meeting between the teams in the postseason since 2008. 

LAST MEETING
•    Junior Ryan Liss hit a two-run homer, sophomore Ben Valente went 2-for-5 with three stolen bases and two RBI, and graduate student Joe Carrea struck out eight over 8.0 innings as the Beavers completed a sweep of Clark with a 9-5 game two victory on April 25 in Babson Park. 
•    Sophomore Dylan Drazka went 2-for-4 with a double, three stolen bases and three runs scored, while graduate student Ryan Grace and senior Zander Teator both doubled for Babson, which beat Clark in game one of the twin bill 8-0. 
•    Michael Soares hit a two-run blast, Cole Camara went 2-for-4 with a solo homer, a triple and two runs scored, and Chas Caron drove in a run for the Cougars, who were limited to just four hits over the first eight innings. 

SCOUTING THE BEAVERS
•    Third-seeded Babson (22-15) closed the regular season by winning six of its final seven games and finished off a sweep of Saturday's doubleheader at WPI with a 12-11 victory. 
•    Valente was 3-for-6 with a triple, two RBI and three runs scored, while junior Connor Frickey and sophomores Gabe Cushner and Colin Chou each drove in a pair of runs for the Beavers, who led 7-0 after two innings and 11-4 going to the bottom of the seventh. 
•    Valente is batting .370 with seven extra-base hits, 15 stolen bases, 30 RBI and a team-high 40 runs scored, Grace is hitting .368 with 11 doubles, nine home runs, 27 walks, 40 RBI and 40 runs scored, and junior Dante D'Avanzo enters the tournament with a .316 average to go along with six doubles, a homer, 26 RBI and 18 runs scored. 
•    Sophomore Graydon Vyse is 1-0 with a 2.86 ERA and 23 strikeouts in 28.1 innings pitched, classmate Chase Burrows is 4-1 with a 5.63 ERA and 26 strikeouts against just six walks in 40.0 innings, and Teator has recorded five saves while striking out 16 batters in 9.0 innings over 10 appearances out of the bullpen this season. 

SCOUTING THE COUGARS
•    Sixth-seeded Clark (21-16) secured a spot in the conference tournament by winning the opener 13-9 before dropping game two of Saturday's doubleheader at Wheaton 12-0 in seven innings. 
•    Dom Mariani and Myles Fournier homered in game one as seven of the team's 15 hits went for extra bases, while Mariani and Jake Faukenham both had two hits in the nightcap as the Cougars stranded 10 runners on base. 
•    Bennett Hewett ranks fifth in the league with a .494 on-base percentage and has a .393 average to go along with 13 doubles, five homers, four triples, 30 RBI and 49 runs scored, Soares is batting .386 and is tied for first in the NEWMAC with 13 home runs in addition to ranking in the top five in OPS (1.202), doubles (13) and RBI (47), and Camara is hitting .386 with 10 doubles, five homers, 28 walks, 33 RBI and 38 runs scored. 
•    Tyler Hansen is 4-1 with a 3.68 ERA in 36.2 innings, James Rabbitt is 1-0 with a 4.70 ERA in 23.0 innings pitched over nine appearances, and Brendan Bruun is 2-0 with a 6.41 earned run average in 26.2 innings of work. 

BABSON IN THE POSTSEASON
•    Babson claimed its seventh conference title (1996, 1997, 2004, 2009, 2017, 2018, 2024) by winning three consecutive elimination games in the 2024 NEWMAC Tournament. 
•    The Beavers have reached the championship round in seven of the last nine conference tournaments dating back to 2016. 
•    Babson has opened NEWMAC Tournament play with a win in four of the last five seasons and seven times in 10 tries since 2016. 
•    The Green and White is 7-5 in NEWMAC Tournament elimination games dating back to 2019 after losing to MIT in the opening round of last year's championship.
•    Going back to 2016, the Beavers are 13-2 in NEWMAC Tournament games played at Govoni Field. 

LEAGUE LEADERS
•    Grace ranks third in the NEWMAC in OPS (1.145), fourth in RBI (40) and fifth in home runs (9), total bases (87), walks (27) and slugging percentage (.654). 
•    Teator ranks second in the conference having been hit by a pitch 16 times, Drazka ranks sixth in walks (26) and is tied with Valente for 11th in the league in stolen bases (15), while Valente is tied with Grace for ninth in the league with 40 runs scored. 
•    Junior Jason Finkelstein ranks first among all qualified pitchers holding opposing hitters to a .187 average and hits allowed per nine innings (6.02),  is tied for third in wins (4) alongside Burrows and ranks eighth in strikeouts (38). 
•    Teator is second in the NEWMAC with five saves and Carrea ranks eighth with 40 strikeouts. 

MOVING UP THE CHARTS
•    Teator matched the Beavers' single-season hit by pitch record set by Travis Jonasson '12 in 2011 and was equaled by Justin Guest '25 last spring. 
•    Teator struck out the side in the ninth inning of Saturday's 4-3 game one win over WPI to become the first pitcher in program history to record five or more saves in three consecutive seasons. His 17 saves are second on Babson's career list behind only Matt Cuneo '18, who registered 20 from 2015-18. 
•    Grace's nine home runs are tied for fifth on the program's single-season list and are the most since Brant Savage '24 M'25 hit 11 back in 2023. 
•    Finkelstein's 15 career wins are tied for sixth on the Babson's career list, while his 130 strikeouts are tied for 10th all-time. 

STRONG STARTING STUFF
•    Over the last six games of the regular season dating back to its April 25 doubleheader against Clark, Babson's starting pitchers have gone 5-0 with a 2.66 ERA, a 0.89 WHIP and 42 strikeouts against just 11 walks over 44.0 innings. 
•    Finkelstein and Carrea both gave the Green and White 8.0 innings while combining for 17 strikeouts the April 25 sweep of Clark, senior Connor 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. 
•    Finkelstein gave up two earned runs to go along with seven strikeouts over 7.0 innings in game one last Saturday at WPI, while Carrea recorded a career-high 10 strikeouts over 6.0 innings in game two versus the Engineers. 

BEAVER BITES
•    Valente enters the postseason with a 12-game hitting streak and has reached base safely in 28 consecutive starts dating back to March 15. 
•    D'Avanzo has at least one hit in 11 straight outings and owns a 16-game on-base streak, while Teator owns a five-game hitting streak and has reached base safely in 15 consecutive outings. 
•    Grace leads the Green and White with 15 multi-hit and 13 multi-RBI games, while Valente is second on the squad with 11 multi-hit and nine multi-RBI outings this spring. 
•    Chou, who hit his first career home run on Saturday at WPI, finished the day with four RBI, while Drazka and Teator both walked five times over two games versus the Engineers. 
•    D'Avanzo has at least one RBI in nine of the last 10 games, Drazka has scored 11 runs over the last seven contests and Teator has a double in six of his last 10 outings. 
•    In three career starts versus Clark, Finkelstein is 3-0 with a 0.81 ERA and 17 strikeouts over 22.0 innings pitched. 
•    The Beavers finished with one error or fewer in each of their final six regular season games. 

TWO BALL
•    Babson ranks third in Division III in doubles plays per game (1.03) and is fifth nationally with 38 doubles on the year. 
•    The Beavers have turned a double play in three straight games and have at least one twin killing in 13 of their last 17 contests dating back to April 9. 

NUMBERS TO KNOW
•    The Beavers are 18-5 this spring when scoring at least six runs. 
•    Babson is 14-2 when allowing five runs or fewer. 
•    The Green and White is 15-1 on the year when its starting pitcher goes at least 6.0 innings. 
•    The Beavers are 14-2 when recording more hits than its foes and 16-2 when they finish with 10 or more hits. 
•    Babson is 21-2 this spring when leading after seven innings. 
•    The Green and White is 7-5 in games decided by either one or two runs. 

UP NEXT
•    The winner of Tuesday's contest will travel to second-seeded Wheaton on Friday at 3:30 p.m.