Babson Park, MA --- Senior Conor Kortmann (Manalapan, NJ) and sophomore Dillon Gonzalez(Beverly, MA) each drove in four runs and Babson scored at least one run in each of the first eight innings en route to a 19-6 season-opening win over WPI in New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) baseball action on Friday afternoon at Govoni Field.
Seniors Trevor Boyce (Canton, MA) and Michael Duffy (Milton, MA) each had four hits and three runs batted in on the day to help pace a 21-hit attack, while Gonzalez, seniors Chris Kucher (Westwood, MA) and Pat Matvichuk (Middleton, MA), and junior Brendan Collins(Abington, MA) all had two hits apiece for the Beavers, who took the first game of a three-game weekend set.
After Babson scored a run in the top of the first inning, WPI (4-8, 0-1 NEWMAC) answered with four straight hits to start the inning as Anthony Capuano (Stoneham, MA) and VinnyD'Ambrosio (Mahopac, NY) singled, followed by back-to-back doubles from Alex Venditti(Newton, Mass.) and D.J. Ouellete (Watertown, MA), to take a 3-1 lead. Ouelette later scored on a sacrifice fly to left field by Shane Sampson (Worcester, MA) as the Engineers took their biggest lead of the afternoon at 4-1 after an inning of play.
The Beavers bounced right back in the top of the second inning as Collins doubled to right center and Duffy followed with an RBI single to cut the deficit to 4-2. Matvichuk singled two batters later, Gonzalez was hit by a pitch, and Boyce plated Duffy and Matvichuk with a single to left center to pull even at 4-4. Kucher followed with a sacrifice fly to score Gonzalez and Kortmann's single to left center scored Boyce to give Babson a 6-4 lead that they would not relinquish.
The Beavers added a run in each of the third and fourth innings to go ahead 7-5, and Botelho's two-run double to left center in the top of the fifth inning stretched the lead to 9-6. Babson extended the lead to 11-6 in the sixth inning when Kortmann hit a one-out, two-run homer over the right field wall. After Duffy scored on a Gonzalez ground out in the top of the seventh, the Beavers blew the game open with a six-run eighth inning, capped by a three-run double from Gonzalez.
Junior Matt Grenier (Rochester, NH), an All-NEWMAC Second Team selection last season settled down after a rough first inning to earn his first win of the season, giving up six runs on nine hits over seven innings.
WPI's Andrew Portera (Alpharetta, GA) took the loss, giving up seven earned runs on 10 hits over 3 1/3 innings. Ouellette and Sampson combined for five of WPI's 10 hits on the day.
The two teams will be back in action on Saturday afternoon when they play a doubleheader in Babson Park starting at 12:00pm.
Release Courtesy Babson Sports Information