Baseball at Wheaton
NEWMAC Tournament | Game 4
Friday, May 8 | 3:30 p.m.
Sidell Stadium | Norton, Mass. 

TOURNAMENT SCHEDULE
Tuesday, May 5
Game 1: No. 3 Babson 14, No. 6 Clark 6
Game 2: No. 4 MIT 12, No. 5 Springfield 11

Friday, May 8
Game 3: No. 4 MIT at No. 1 Salve Regina, 3 p.m. 
Game 4: No. 3 Babson 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 and Wheaton will meet for the 100th time on Friday afternoon in a series that dates back to 1998.
•    The Beavers are 39-59 all-time against the Lyons but have won six of the last eight games in the series since 2024. 
•    The teams have split their last 44 games dating back to April 9, 2016, with each team winning 14 times in 28 regular season contests. 
•    The Green and White is 4-2 at Sidell Stadium since 2023, which includes regular season victories in each of the last three seasons. 

POSTSEASON HISTORY
•    Babson is 14-16 all-time against Wheaton in the conference playoffs. 
•    The Beavers and Lyons met 17 times in NEWMAC Tournament play from 2017-24 and met at least once in all seven conference championships played during this stretch. 
•    The Green and White beat Wheaton twice to claim the 2024 NEWMAC title, while the Lyons recorded consecutive wins to edge Babson in the championship round of the conference tournament in both 2021 and 2024. 

LAST MEETING
•    Graduate student Ryan Grace, junior Ryan Liss and sophomore Ben Valente all homered to help Babson defeat Wheaton, 7-3, on March 31 in Norton, Mass. 
•    Grace and Liss both had two hits and combined for three RBI, first-year Bobby Christensen went 2-for-4 with an RBI double and junior Jason Finkelstein allowed just two runs over 7.0 innings for the Beavers, who finished the day with six extra-base hits. 
•    Brayden Lewis hit a solo home run, Marcus Rodriguez went 2-for-4 with a walk and Tyler Bellan drove in a pair of runs with sacrifice flies for the Lyons, who had defeated the Green and White 10-4 a week earlier to begin conference play. 

SCOUTING THE BEAVERS
•    Third-seeded Babson (23-15) has won three in a row and seven of its last eight games after defeating sixth-seeded Clark, 14-6, in Tuesday's NEWMAC Tournament opener. 
•    Senior Zander Teator homered twice and finished with five RBI, sophomore Dylan Drazka went 3-for-3 with three stolen bases and five runs scored, and classmate Graydon Vyse recorded a career-high 10 strikeouts over 8.0 innings for the Beavers, who had six different players record multiple hits and scored at least one run in six different innings. 
•    Sophomore Ben Valente is batting .371 with eight extra-base hits, 16 stolen bases, 30 RBI and a team-high 43 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 owns a .323 average to go along with six doubles, a homer, 27 RBI and 19 runs scored. 
•    Finkelstein (4-2, 3.50 ERA) has recorded 38 strikeouts while holding opposing hitters to a .187 average in 46.1 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 LYONS 
•    Second-seeded Wheaton (26-11) ended the regular season by winning five of its final six games, which includes a 12-0 rout of Clark in game two of last Saturday's doubleheader. 
•    Lewis went 2-for-3 with a two-run homer, Logan Downey, Evan Jones and Robbie Lamond all finished with two hits and an RBI, and Ben Oliveira struck out five over 5.0 shutout innings for the Lyons, who led 5-0 after two innings. 
•    Downey is batting .378 with six extra-base hits, 11 stolen bases, 18 RBI and 35 runs scored, Lamond is hitting .340 with four homers, 10 doubles, 21 stolen bases, 27 RBI and 36 runs scored, and Lewis owns a .338 average and ranks among the top five in the NEWMAC in home runs (10), RBI (36) and stolen bases (28) to go along with seven doubles and a team-high 40 runs scored. 
•    Aiden Cardoza is 3-1 with a 3.53 ERA and 34 strikeouts in 51.0 innings, Jack Feltovic (1-0, 1.06 ERA) boasts a 0.76 WHIP and has 16 strikeouts while holding opposing hitters to a .200 average in 17.0 innings pitched, and Josh Fischer is 2-0 with five saves, a 2.65 ERA and 21 strikeouts over 17.0 innings in 14 relief appearances on the season. 

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 now opened NEWMAC Tournament play with a win in five of the last six seasons and seven times in 10 tries since 2016. 
•    In each of its last three NEWMAC championships (2017, 2018, 2024), the Green and White has defeated Wheaton twice in the conference tournament. 

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 is tied for fifth in walks (25) and eighth  in the league in stolen bases (18), while Valente is eighth in the NEWMAC with 43 runs scored. 
•    Liss is tied for the conference lead with a career-high four triples 
•    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 seventh 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 graduate student Joe 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 Friday's contest with a 13-game hitting streak and has reached base safely in 29 consecutive starts dating back to March 15. 
•    D'Avanzo has at least one hit in 12 straight outings and owns a 17-game on-base streak, while Teator owns a six-game hitting streak and has reached base safely in 16 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 12 multi-hit and nine multi-RBI outings this spring. 
•    Sophomore Colin 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 10 of the last 11 games, Drazka has scored 16 runs over the last eight contests and Teator has a double in six of his last 11 outings. 
•    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 fourth nationally with 39 double plays on the year. 
•    The Beavers have turned a double play in four straight games and have at least one twin killing in 14 of their last 18 contests dating back to April 9. 

NUMBERS TO KNOW
•    The Beavers are 19-5 this spring when scoring at least six runs. 
•    Babson is 15-2 when allowing five runs or fewer. 
•    The Green and White is 16-1 on the year when its starting pitcher goes at least 6.0 innings. 
•    The Beavers are 15-2 when recording more hits than its foes and 16-2 when they finish with 10 or more hits. 
•    Babson is 22-2 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 Friday's game will take on either top-seeded and third-ranke Salve Regin at 12:30 p.m. on Saturday, while the two losers will meet at 9:30 a.m.