HARWICH, Mass.—Babson College senior Jack Halpin (Glastonbury, Conn.) became the program's all-time hits leader, but No. 19 D3baseball.com/No. 17 Collegiate Baseball UMass Boston scored three times in the bottom of the eighth inning to defeat the Beavers, 11-8, in the Harwich Regional final on Sunday at Whitehouse Field.

Babson (29-15), which made its first NCAA Tournament appearance since 2009, had won three straight elimination games after suffering a 4-0 loss to the Beacons on Friday. The Beavers set a new program record for wins in a season and were victorious in 16 of their final 18 outings going back to April 22.

UMass Boston (37-10) went 4-0 in the regional, and will make its second Division III College World Series appearance and first since 2010 next weekend.

Senior Jake Weiss (Irvine, Calif.) went 3-for-4 with a double and an RBI, while Halpin finished with two hits, and RBI and a run scored for Babson. Sophomore Connor Gill (Sterling, Mass.) was 2-for-4 with a double and two runs scored, while junior Ryan Arena (Yorktown Heights, N.Y.) also had two hits, including a home run, in the loss.

Junior Josh Lopez (New Haven, Conn.) went 3-for-5 with two RBI and two runs scored, while senior Dan Mantoni (Northbridge, Mass.) hit a three-run homer and scored twice for the Beacons. Sophomore Nick Herzog (Riverhead, N.Y.), who was selected as the Harwich Regional Most Outstanding Player, went 1-for-3 with an RBI and scored twice in the win.

The Green and White jumped on top 2-0 in the third as sophomore Brian McHale (Ramsey, N.J.) drove in junior David Lennon (Windermere, Fla.) with a single to center, and Halpin plated Gill with a base hit to right. UMass Boston pulled even in the bottom half of the frame though, as Lopez led off with a double and scored the first of two runs on RBI ground outs.

The Beavers went back in front in the fourth as Gill doubled down the left field line to drive in sophomore Eric Jaun (Loveland, Ohio) before coming into score on Weiss' single to center for a 4-2 advantage. The Beacons took a 5-4 edge in the bottom of the third thanks to a three-run homer by Mantoni, but Babson responded with a three-run fifth to regain the lead. First-year Sean Harrington (Walpole, Mass.) drove in Halpin with a one-out double to left, and two more runs scored to make it 7-5 when Lennon's sinking liner to right was misplayed.

UMass Boston went back in front 8-7 in the last of the fifth thanks to a two-run single by Lopez. Senior Ken Rotunno (East Islip, N.Y.) used double plays to end both the fifth and sixth, and the Green and White tied the game when Arena hit his 13th home run of the year to lead off the seventh.

The Beacons went ahead for good in the eighth as sophomore Kyle Boudrias (Medford, Mass.) and junior Chris Fowler (Barnstable, Mass.) both walked and Herzog reached with a sacrifice bunt to load the bases. Senior Luke Nagle (Pembroke, Mass.) drove in junior Eddie Riley (Quincy, Mass.), who came on as a pinch runner, to make it 9-8, and UMass Boston added two more insurance runs to take a three-run lead. Junior Kaufman (Farmingdale, N.Y.) worked around a lead-off single by Arena in the ninth to record his fourth save of the year.
 
First-year Michael Nocchi (Manasquan, N.J.) started and allowed six earned runs on seven hits over 4.1 innings in a no-decision for Babson. Rotunno suffered the loss to drop to 3-2 on the year after giving up one run and one hit in 2.2 frames of relief.

Sophomore Bobby Tramondozzi (Peabody, Mass.) picked up the win to move to 4-2 on the year for the Beacons with 2.1 innings of relief. Classmate Fernando Burgos (Hyde Park, Mass.) started and gave up seven runs, just three of them earned, on 10 hits in five innings.

REGIONAL NOTES
•    Halpin, Weiss, Gill, Jaun and sophomore Edward Lehr (Byram Township, N.J.) were named to the Harwich Regional All-Tournament team.
•    Halpin, who became just the second player in school history to play in 44 games in one season on Sunday, finishes his career ranked first in school history hits (201), third in runs batted in (124) and total bases (282) and eighth in batting average (.354).
•    Weiss, who swiped four bags in the regional, concludes his career ranked fourth in program history with 43 stolen bases.
•    Weiss and Gill, who had four doubles in the tournament, both recorded four multi-hit games in Harwich, while McHale hit safely in all six contests and ends the year with an 11-game hitting streak.