Babson Park, MA --- It may have been frigid and windy outside on Thursday afternoon but the Babson bats were on fire as the host Beavers defeated WPI in NEWMAC baseball contest 26-1.
With the result, Babson is now 13-7 on the season and 4-2 in conference play while the Engineers slip to 10-11 overall and 2-4 against NEWMAC foes.
The first three WPI hitters Tyrone Patterson (Upper Marlboro, MD), Evan Lacroix (Methuen, MA) and Ryan Tropeano (Pembroke, MA) accounted for nine of the Crimson and Gray's 12 hits on the day, including a Patterson home run to right center that broke up the shutout in the top ninth. The sophomore collected four hits for the second time in three games. David Larson (Port Tobacco, MD) also had two hits, including a double, and Josh Herlands (Glastonbury, CT) chipped in with a two-bagger for the guests.
Steven D'Agostino (Worcester, MA) worked the first two innings and shouldered the loss for WPI. The senior, and reigning NEWMAC Pitcher of the Week, is now 3-3 on the season. The last three of WPI's seven relievers pitched well as the trio of Nick Borsari (Bolton, MA), Robert Chase (North Hero, VT), Matt Woods (Wilmington, MA) combined to allowed just one run over 2 2/3 innings.
Ryan Arena (Yorktown Heights, NY) homered and drove in five runs, while Eric Jaun (Loveland, OH) and Brian McHale (Ramsey, NJ) both had three hits and drove in three runs for the Beavers. Edward Lehr (Byram Township, NJ), Jake Oliger (Newtown, CT) and sophomore Matthew Valente (Wyckoff, NJ) all finished with two hits and two runs batted in on the afternoon. Michael Genaro (Greenwich, CT) scattered eight hits and struck out seven over six innings to earn the win and improve to 4-1 on the year.
Both teams return to action on Friday at 3:30 p.m. as WPI takes on Clark in the first of a three-game set and Babson hosts Wheaton to begin a three-game series.
Portion of Release Courtesy Babson Sports Information