NEWPORT, R.I.—Junior
Ryan Liss (Hollywood, Fla.) hit a go-ahead two-run homer in the top of the ninth inning as part of a three-hit day to help third-seeded Babson College defeat top-seeded and fourth-ranked Salve Regina University, 7-5, in the New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) Tournament winnners' bracket final on Saturday morning at Reynolds Field.
Babson, which has won five in a row and nine of its last 10 games overall, improves to 25-15 and advances to Sunday's NEWMAC Tournament final. Salve Regina had its eight-game winning streak snapped and is now 35-5 on the year.
Liss doubled, drove in thee runs and scored twice, sophomore
Gabe Harmon (Cape Elizabeth, Maine) was 2-for-4 with a two-run homer and senior
Zander Teator (Saratoga Springs, N.Y.) singled twice, had one RBI and also retired all three batters he faced in the bottom of the ninth to record his seventh save of the year for the Beavers. Classmate
Ryan Hvozdovic (Hillsborough, N.J.) also singled twice in support of graduate student
Joe Carrea (Cranford, N.J.), who fanned six and gave up five runs over 7.0 innings.
Senior Shane Williams (Georgetown, Mass.) went 2-for-4 with a solo homer and a double, sophomore Jake Harring (Portsmouth, N.H.) was 3-for-4 with two runs scored and senior Shea Donovan (Milton, Mass.) and sophomore Dylan Cimini (Stonington, Conn.) each homered once for the Seahawks. Fellow sophomore Nolan Romanowski (Wynantskill, N.Y.) suffered his first loss of the season to fall to 10-1 after giving four earned runs on 10 hits to go along with three strikeouts over 8.0 innings.
Salve Regina took a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the first thanks to solo blasts by Williams and Cimini and extended the margin to 3-0 in the second when Harring scored on a sacrifice fly by senior Matt Stokes (Summit, N.J.). The Green and White stranded runners in each of the first two frames before getting a run back on Teator's two-out RBI single in the third before taking a 4-3 lead with three two-out runs in the fourth.
Liss smoked a double to the wall in right center to bring home junior
Dante D'Avanzo (Ashland, Mass.) and Harmon followed with his first career home run, a two-run shot to left. The Seahawks went back in front 5-4 on Donovan's two-run bast in the bottom of the sixth, but Carrea retired the final five hitters he faced and Babson pulled even in the eighth when Teator raced home on D'Avanzo's long fly out to left center.
Graduate student
Michael Camardi (Syosset, N.Y.) and sophomore
Dillon James (Attleboro, Mass.) combined to work around a leadoff walk in the bottom of the inning and Hvozdovic started the ninth with a single before Liss hit his sixth home run of the year to give the Beavers a 7-5 edge. Teator took over on the mound in the ninth and retired the side in order with a pair of strikeouts.
Babson will face either Salve Regina or fourth-seeded MIT, both of which would need to win twice, in Sunday's NEWMAC Tournament final.
GAME NOTES
• The Beavers are 15-9 all-time against Salve Regina, which includes a perfect 4-0 mark in the postseason.
• Teator's seven saves are tied for second on Babson's single-season list and his 19 career saves are now just one shy of Matt Cuneo's '18 program record.
• The Green and White is now 9-5 on the year in games decided by either one or two runs.
• The Beavers are 20-5 when scoring at least six runs and 17-1 when their starting pitcher goes at least 6.0 innings.
