BABSON PARK, Mass.—Junior Connor Gill (Sterling, Mass.) recorded a season-high eight strikeouts in a complete-game effort as Babson College earned a hard-fought 2-1 victory over visiting Emerson College in the opener of a New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) baseball series on Friday afternoon at Govoni Field.
Babson, which has now won 15 of its last 18 games, improves to 22-10 overall and 12-3 in league play, while Emerson slips to 7-21 overall and 1-13 in the NEWMAC with its sixth straight loss.
Sophomore Jake Oliger (Newtown, Conn.) went 3-for-3 with an RBI double and junior Brian McHale (Ramsey, N.J.) added a single and run scored for the Beavers, who were limited to just four hits. Gill (5-1), who won his fourth straight start, gave up just one unearned run and allowed just five singles.
Senior Pablo Feldman (Mill Valley, Calif.) singled and scored for the Lions, who had just three hits over the final eight frames. Junior Tim
Mainella (Dover, N.H.), who made just his second start of the season, suffered the loss to fall to 0-1 after giving up two runs on three hits over six innings.
Emerson scratched out a run in the top of the first when Feldman singled to center and later scored on a two-out fielding error for a 1-0 advantage. Babson stranded junior Edward Lehr (Byram Township, N.J.) at third following a one-out walk in the bottom of the frame, but pulled even an inning later when Oliger drove in sophomore Matthew Valente (Wyckoff, N.J.) with a double to the gap in left center.
McHale led off third with a single and ended up on second when the ball was misplayed in center. He moved over to third on Lehr's ground out and then came home with the go-ahead run on senior Ryan Arena's (Yorktown Heights, N.Y.) sacrifice fly to left to make it 2-1.
Gill retired 12 in a row from the second through the fifth, and worked around a pair of infield singles to strand a pair of Lions on base in the seventh. He needed just seven pitches to get out of the eighth and then struck out the side in order in the ninth to close out the win.
The teams will wrap up their series on Saturday with a doubleheader at Campanelli Stadium in Brockton beginning at 12 p.m.
GAME NOTES
• Babson is now 14-0 all-time against Emerson although each of the last four contests have been decided by three runs or less.
• Gill is now 7-1 with a 2.47 ERA and 41 strikeouts in 65.2 innings against NEWMAC opponents going back to the start of last season.
• Senior Mark Webber (Norwell, Mass.) saw his 19-game hitting streak come to an end after going 0-for-4 at the plate on Friday.
• Babson has now won 17 of its last 18 games at home going back to April 22, 2017.