May 8, 2019

No. 6/6 Babson Falls to MIT in NEWMAC Tournament Final, 8-2

More news about: Babson

BABSON PARK, Mass.—Senior Patrick Callahan (Vicksburg, Mich.) tossed a complete game and juniors Matt Johnston (Portola Valley, Calif.) and Thomas Allison (Kingwood, Texas) both homered as visiting MIT defeated No. 6/6 Babson College, 8-2, in the New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) Tournament final on Wednesday afternoon at Govoni Field. 

Babson, which was seeking a third straight conference tournament championship, slips to 33-7 overall and now must wait until Monday to see if it receives one of 16 at-large bids to the NCAA Tournament. MIT, which captured its first NEWMAC title since 2015, improves to 22-17-1 and is headed to the NCAA Tournament for the first time in five seasons.

Seniors Brian McHale (Ramsey, N.J.) and Connor Gill (Sterling, Mass.), junior Jake Oliger (Newtown, Conn.) and first-year Thomas Lapham (Charlestown, Mass.) all had two hits apiece for the Beavers. Gill and senior Nicholas Browne(Mount Laurel, N.J.) each drove in a run, and classmate Michael Genaro (Greenwich, Conn.) suffered the loss to fall to 6-3 after giving up four runs while striking out five in 4.1 innings.

Callahan, who was starting on three-days rest after picking up a complete-game win over WPI on Saturday, was selected as the NEWMAC Tournament Most Outstanding Player after striking out eight to improve to 2-0 in the playoffs. Johnston went 4-for-5 at the plate with three RBI, Allison had two hits and three RBI, and Andrew Krause (St. Louis, Mo.) was 3-for-5 with two runs batted in to pace the offense.

MIT jumped on top 2-0 in the top of the third thanks to consecutive RBI singles by Johnston and Krause. Johnston extended the lead to 3-0 with another RBI knock in the fifth, which was followed by an opposite field base hit by Allison to bring in Johnston for a four-run cushion.

After stranding four runners over the first four innings, Babson finally got on the board in the last of the fifth as Lapham stroked a one-out double to center and scored two batters later on an RBI single by Gill. Junior Will Gallagher (Kingston, Mass.), who came on in relief in the fifth, worked around a one-out walk in the sixth and retired the first two batters he faced in the seventh before running into trouble. Johnston singled and stole second before scoring on another RBI single by Krause, and Allison followed with his 11th home run of the year, a two-run shot, to extend the Engineers' cushion to 7-1.

Callahan retired the side in order in the last of the seventh and then got an infield pop-up to escape the eighth after the Beavers had put runners on the corners with two outs. Johnston put the exclamation point on the win for MIT with his second home run in as many days to deep left in the top of the ninth.

The NCAA Division III Championship selection show will air on NCAA.com on Monday at 12 p.m.

GAME NOTES
• The Beavers are 55-38-1 all-time against MIT and had won the first four meetings between the teams spring prior to Wednesday's loss.
• Babson had also won five straight postseason matchups against the Engineers prior to Wednesday's setback.
• Lapham batted .412 (7-for-17) with two doubles and six RBI in four tournament starts.
• Senior Eric Jaun (Loveland, Ohio) tied the program's all-time record with the 160th appearance of his career on Wednesday.