NEWPORT, R.I.—Senior Tristen Spalter (Sergeantsville, Pa.) recorded his longest outing of the season allowing just one run over seven innings to help third-seeded Babson College defeat top-seeded and fourth-ranked Salve Regina University, 8-1, in a New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) Tournament elimination game on Saturday afternoon at Reynolds Field.
With the win, Babson improves to 28-11 overall and helped head coach Matt Noone record the 500th victory of his career. Salve Regina, which is first in the NCAA Region I rankings, is expected to receive an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament when the field is announced on Monday.
The Beavers, who suffered a 5-2 loss to fourth-seeded Wheaton College (24-12) in their first game on Saturday, will host the Lyons in the championship round of the NEWMAC Tournament at Govoni Field beginning on Sunday at 11 a.m.
Babson 8, Salve Regina 1
Senior Ike Kiely (Falmouth, Maine) went 1-for-2 with a double and two RBI and classmate Luca Rubin (Los Angeles, Calif.) singled and knocked in three runs for the Beavers, who got a hit from seven different players in the victory. Senior Tanner Santos (Bethany, Conn.) singled twice and junior Justin Guest (West Windsor, N.J.) singled and scored a pair of runs in support of Spalter, who struck out one and did not issue a walk to improve to 2-1 on the year.
Tyler Cannoe went 2-for-4 and Michael Breen had an RBI single for the Seahawks. J DeRienzo dropped to 5-2 on the year with the loss after giving up two earned runs on three hits while striking out four in 5.0 innings.
Guest scored on an error with two outs in the fourth to make it 1-1 and the Green and White busted the game open with a four-run sixth inning. Kiely drew a leadoff walk, junior Walter Sadowsky (Morristown, N.J.) got plunked and Rubin reached on a throwing error that allowed Kiely to score for a 2-1 lead.
Sadowsky scored on an infield single by senior Jack Julian (Manchester, Mass.) and Santos loaded the bases with a bunt single before graduate student Luke Tanner (Los Angeles, Calif.) produced an RBI ground out and senior Brant Savage (Charlton, Mass.) followed with a sacrifice fly to give Babson a 5-1 advantage. Rubin came through with a two-out RBI single in the seventh and Kiely's double with two outs in the eighth brought home Tanner and Savage to make it 8-1.
Spalter retired nine of the final 10 batters he faced and junior Luke McClintock (South Hamilton, Mass.) recorded three strikeouts and did not allow a hit over two scoreless innings of relief for Babson.
Wheaton 5, Babson 2
Tanner went 2-for-5 with a double and Guest and graduate student John Nowak (Pelham, N.Y.) both singled and scored for the Beavers, who were limited to just five hits. First-year Jason Finkelstein (Walpole, Mass.), who was making his third start of the year against Wheaton, dropped to 8-2 on the year with the loss after giving up five runs on nine hits over 7.1 innings.
Timmy Wagner went 3-for-4 with a two-run homer and two runs scored, while Kevin Matos and Shawn Cali both went 2-for-4 and drove in a run for the Lyons. Ben Oliveira gave up just one earned run on two hits over 6.0 innings to improve to 6-2 with the win, while Joe Mulhern earned his seventh save with a scoreless ninth inning.
Cali gave Wheaton a 1-0 lead with a two-out RBI single in the top of the second before Nowak led off the bottom of the frame with a single and later score on a sacrifice fly by Rubin to tie the game at 1-1. Casey Wensley put the Lyons back in front 2-1 with a two-out RBI knock in the third, but the Beavers answered back in the fourth as Guest scored when Cali was unable to come up with a diving catch on Sadowsky's sinking line to left.
Matos put Wheaton in front for good with a two-out double down the right field line in the sixth and Wagner hit a two-run blast to left in the eighth to make it a three-run game. The Green and White stranded a pair of runners on base in the seventh and got the potential tying run to the plate in the eighth but was unable to cut into its deficit.
GAME NOTES
• The Beavers are now 3-0 all-time in the postseason against Salve Regina, which includes a pair of NCAA Tournament victories back in 2017.
• Babson is 12-16 all-time against Wheaton in the conference playoffs and Saturday's contest was the eighth between the teams in the postseason since 2021.
• Noone is one of 32 active Division III coaches that owns 500 wins and at least a .600 winning percentage.
• Tanner extended his hitting streak to 14 games, while Nowak has now reached base in each of his 28 starts this season.