BROCKTON, Mass.—Senior John Floegel (Summit, N.J.) tossed a complete-game shutout in the opener and Babson College erupted for 15 runs in game two on its way to finishing off series sweep of Emerson College in New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) baseball action on Saturday afternoon at Campanelli Stadium. The Beavers took the opener 4-0 and defeated the Lions, 15-4, in the nightcap.
Babson, which has won 17 of its last 20 games, improves to 24-10 overall and finished league play at 14-3 to capture it second consecutive NEWMAC regular season crown. Emerson, which has dropped eight in a row, falls to 7-23 overall and 1-15 in conference play.
GAME ONE: Babson 4, Emerson 0
Senior Ryan Arena (Yorktown Heights, N.Y.), junior Brian McHale (Ramsey, N.J.) and sophomores Jake Oliger(Newtown, Conn.) and Matthew Valente (Wyckoff, N.J.) all had two hits in the opener for the Beavers. Senior Mark Webber (Norwell, Mass.) homered and both Oliger and junior Eric Jaun (Loveland, Ohio) drove in a run in the win.
Flogel (3-2) was superb as he struck out nine and gave up just a third-inning double to junior CJ Rogers (Guilford, Conn.) and a seventh-inning single to senior Tim Qutadamo (Worcester, Mass.) while recording his second consecutive complete-game shutout. He retired eight straight batters to start the game and nine consecutive hitters from the fourth through the sixth.
The Green and White took a 1-0 lead in third as McHale scored on a two-out wild pitch, and Webber doubled the advantage an inning later by cranking his third home run of the year over the right field wall. The Lions' best scoring chance came in the seventh as they used a hit batsman, a single and a walk to load the bases before Floegel ended the threat with a groundout to junior Connor Gill (Sterling, Mass.) at second base.
Babson tacked on a pair of insurance runs in the ninth as Jaun drove in sophomore Sean Harrington (Walpole, Mass.) with a sacrifice fly, while Oliger plated Valente with a one-out single to center to extend the lead to 4-0.
Sophomore Jack Fox (Los Angeles, Calif.), who gave up just two runs on six hits while striking out four in 5.0 innings, dropped to 1-7 on the year with the loss.
GAME TWO: Babson 15, Emerson 4
McHale was 4-for-6 with a pair of doubles and Webber finished 3-for-5 with a double to pace the Beavers' 16-hit attack. Both players drove in a pair of runs and scored three times, while Harrington and Valente each had two hits and combined to drive in five runs. Oliger added two hits and two RBI, Gill singled twice and Arena scored three times in the rout.
Babson wasted little time jumping on Emerson senior starter Henry Schwartz (Queens, N.Y.) as Harrington produced a two-run single and later scored on a wild pitch to build a 3-0 lead in the top of the first. Emerson cut its deficit to 4-2 in the second, but Oliger came through with a two-out, two-run single to left and McHale followed with an RBI knock two batters later to extend the margin to 7-2 in the third.
Valente stroke a two-run double to left center in the fourth and then scored on Jaun's sacrifice fly to give Babson a 10-2 cushion. The Lions scored twice in the sixth despite the benefit of just one hit, but the Green and White tacked on five more runs over the final three innings.
Junior Edward Lehr (Byram Township, N.J.) struck out seven and allowed four runs over five innings to earn the win and improve to 2-2 on the year. Sophomore Michael Nocchi(Manasquan, N.J.) and junior Max Tannenbaum (Coral Springs, Fla.) fanned six in four shutout innings of relief for the Beavers.
Schwartz (2-7) was tagged for 10 runs on 12 hits in 4.1 innings.
Babson returns to action on Sunday when it travels to Keene State for a 1 p.m. start.
DOUBLEHEADER NOTES
• The Beavers are now 16-0 all-time against Emerson.
• Babson's 14 NEWMAC regular season wins are the most in program history.
• Oliger went 7-for-12 with a double and four RBI in the three-game series about the Lions.
• Babson's pitching staff finished conference play with a 2.92 ERA and 129 strikeouts in 151.0 innings.