DARTMOUTH, Mass.—Junior Edward Lehr (Byram Township, N.J.) doubled and scored twice and first-year Alex Luka (Downers Grove, Ill.) went seven innings to pick up his first career win as visiting Babson College defeated UMass Dartmouth, 6-2, in non-conference baseball action on Monday afternoon.
With its 10th straight win, Babson improves to 17-7 overall. UMass Dartmouth, which has lost five of its last six games, falls to 11-8 on the year.
Sophomore Jake Oliger (Newtown, Conn.) went 2-for-4 with a double and two RBI, and senior Ryan Arena (Yorktown Heights, N.Y.), classmate David Lennon (Windermere, Fla.) and sophomore Matthew Valente (Wyckoff, N.J.) all contributed two hits and scored once for the Beavers. Luka allowed just two runs on six hits while striking out five to improve to 1-1 this spring.
Senior Zach Courier (Mansfield, Mass.) went 2-for-4 with a double, while junior Jose Vazquez (Roxbury, Mass.) and senior Josh O'Neil (Halifax, Mass.) both knocked in a run for the Corsairs. Classmate Ben Lodge (Blackstone, Mass.) suffered the loss to drop to 2-2 on the year after giving up two runs and eight hits while fanning five in 5.1 innings.
The Green and White jumped on top in the third as Lehr doubled to drive in Lennon all the way from first before scoring on senior Mark Webber's (Norwell, Mass.) one-out single through the right side for a 2-0 advantage. Luka gave up just one hit over the first five frames, but UMass Dartmouth got to him for three straight singles with two outs in the sixth, cutting its deficit to 2-1 when Vazquez drove in senior Kenny Michael (Norwood, Mass.).
Arena plated Lehr with a two-out single in the top of the seventh to make it 3-1, and Oliger ripped a double down the left field line with one out in the eighth to score junior Nicholas Browne (Mount Laurel, N.J.) and Valente extending the margin to 5-2. The Beavers tacked on another insurance run in the ninth without the benefit of a hit as Arena reached on a fielder's choice and stole second before coming home to score on a pair of wild pitches.
First-year Tyler Bell (Abington, Mass.) struck out the side in the last of the eighth and junior Max Tannenbaum (Coral Springs, Fla.) worked around a hit batsman in the ninth to close out the win.
Both teams are back in action on Tuesday at 3:30 p.m. as Babson hosts Springfield, while UMass Dartmouth travels to Salem State.
GAME NOTES
• The Beavers are 14-21 all-time against UMass Dartmouth but have won eight of the last 11 games between the teams since 2005.
• Babson's 10-game winning streak is tied for the fourth longest in school history. The Green and White set a new program record with 13 straight wins last spring.
• Webber (12 games) and Oliger (10) both extended their hitting streaks on Monday. Lennon also reached base for the 13th consecutive outing.
• The Beavers improved to 23-0 since the start of last season when giving up two runs or less with Monday's win.