Beavers Set New Single Season Record with 36th Win, Advance to Face Cortland in NCAA Super Regionals
HARTFORD, Conn.—No. 7/9 Babson College scored six runs in the top of the fifth inning on its way to defeating Trinity College, 10-3, in the championship game of the NCAA Tournament Hartford Regional on Sunday evening at Murren Family Field at DiBenedetto Stadium.
The Bantams forced the winner-take-all if necessary game with a 12-3 win over the Beavers on Sunday afternoon.
With the win, Babson (36-8) set a new single-season record for wins and is now headed to the NCAA Super Regionals for the first time in school history. Trinity sees its season come to a close at 30-9.
Game 7: Babson 10, Trinity 3
Senior Connor Gill (Sterling, Mass.) went 4-for-5 with two RBI, classmate Nicholas Browne (Mount Laurel, N.J.) doubled twice and scored a pair of runs, and both senior Eric Jaun (Loveland, Ohio) and junior Matthew Valente (Wyckoff, N.J.) drove in two runs apiece for the Beavers. Fellow junior Sean Harrington (Walpole, Mass.) also went 3-for-4 with an RBI in support of sophomore Jordy Allard (Woodstock, Vt.), who gave up two earned runs and struck out three while scattering nine hits over 6.0 innings to improve to 8-0 on the year.
Junior Brett Stevenson (Southport, Conn.) went 3-for-4 and senior Johnny Stamatis (Ridgefield, Conn.) finished with two hits, including a triple, and a run scored for the Bantams. First-year Cameron Crowley (Downers Grove, Ill.), who went 7.1 innings in Saturday's loss to Babson, dropped his second consecutive start to fall to 8-2 on the year after giving up five runs, two of them earned, on six hits in 4.2 innings.
Trailing 2-0 going to the fifth the Green and White sent 11 men to the plate and scored six times to seize control of the game. Senior Brian McHale (Ramsey, N.J.) drove in Valente with a sacrifice fly to make it 2-1 and Gill followed with a sharp single to left that brought home Browne with the tying run. Gill scored when Jaun was plunked to make it 3-2, Harrington scored on senior Edward Lehr's (Byram Township, N.J.) infield single and Valente capped the rally with his second hit of the inning to push two more runs across for a 6-2 advantage.
Trinity got a run back in bottom of the fifth thanks to an RBI single by senior Tyler Buckley (Mount Kisco, N.Y.), but Jaun contributed an RBI base hit in the sixth, and Oliger followed a two-out RBI single by Gill with a bases-loaded walk in the seventh to increase the Beavers' margin to 9-3. Harrington drove in the final run of the game with an RBI ground-rule double to right center.
Junior William Gallagher (Kingston, Mass.) and sophomore Henry Leake (Burbank, Calif.) retired the side in order in the seventh and eighth innings, respectively, for the Beavers, while senior Max Tannenbaum (Coral Springs, N.Y.) quickly erased a leadoff single by Stevenson with a double play before striking out junior Alex Rodriguez (South Windsor, Conn.) for the final out in the ninth.
Game 6: Trinity 12, Babson 3
Browne went 2-for-3 with his second homer of the regional, while Jaun went deep and finished with two RBI for the Beavers, who were limited to just six hits in the loss. Junior Michael Nocchi (Manasquan, N.J.) was lifted after giving up six runs, four of them earned, on nine hits in 2.2 innings, and dropped to 3-2 on the year.
Buckley went 4-for-5 with two solo homers, Robbie Cronin (Wellesley Hills, Mass.) was 3-for-5 with a homer and four RBI, and Brett Stevenson (Southport, Conn.) finished with three knocks and three RBI to pace the Bantams' 18-hit attack. Junior Matt Koperniak (Adams, Mass.) also had three hits in support of first-year Shayne Rice (West Hartford, Conn.), who gave up two runs on three hits and five walks in 5.0 innings to earn his first career win. Prior to Sunday's start he had pitched just 5.1 innings on the season.
Trinity jumped on top 2-0 in the top of the second and broke the game open with a five-run third that included a two-run homer from Cronin (and a solo shot from Buckley (to make it 7-0. Jaun homered to get the Green and White on the board in the last of the fourth only to see the Bantams extend their cushion to 9-1 in the sixth thanks to an RBI double by Stevenson and an RBI single by Rodriguez.
Buckley homered again in the seventh and senior Erik Mohl (Milton, Mass.) recorded the final 12 outs to earn his fourth save of the year for the Bantams, who finished the game with 11 stolen bases.
Babson will now face SUNY Cortland in a best-of-three series beginning on Friday. The site of the super regional will be announced either late Sunday night or Monday morning.
GAME NOTES
• The Beavers are now 7-12 all-time against Trinity.
• Harrington batted .500 (6-for-12) with a double, a triple and six walks in four regional games, while Browne hit .467 (7-for-15) with two homers, four doubles and four RBI.
• The relief trio of Tannenbaum, Gallagher and Leake combined to allow just one run on five hits while recording eight strikeouts in 7.0 innings of work in the regional.
• In four games at the Hartford Regional the Babson pitching staff walked just four batters, while the defense turned 11 double plays.
• The Beavers are 28-0 this season when scoring six or more runs and are 21-4 away from home.