Babson Comes from Five Down to Defeat Baseball 9-7

Babson Park, Mass. – Sophomore righthander Pat Doherty (Arlington, Mass.) pitched 5 1/3 scoreless innings of relief to earn the win as the Babson College baseball team rallied from five runs down to defeat visiting Framingham State College, 9-7, in a non-conference matchup at Govoni Field on Monday afternoon. With their sixth straight win, the Beavers improved to 6-2 on the season, while the Rams lost their second in a row to fall to 5-6.

After Framingham State scored seven runs against Babson’s first two hurlers, Doherty (1-0) came on in the third and shut the door on the Rams, giving up just two hits and striking out three in 5 1/3 innings out of the bullpen. First-year Brian Swanton (Foxboro, Mass.) then came on to pitch a scoreless ninth to earn his first collegiate save.

Babson scored the first two runs of the game in the bottom of the first, as junior Billy Besinger (Milton, Mass.) came home on a wild pitch with two outs and sophomore Billy Miller (Sagamore Beach, Mass.) followed with an RBI double that plated classmate Travis Jonasson (Needham, Mass.). However, Framingham State responded with a run in the second and six more in the third to build a 7-2 lead. Junior Connor Moriarty (Danville, N.H.) singled in first-year Joe Quinn (Assonet, Mass.) with the Ram’s run in the second and then added a two-run single to highlight the six-run outburst in the third. Quinn and sophomore Chris Brassard (Fitchburg, Mass.) also had RBI hits for Framingham State.

With Doherty cruising on the mound, Babson slowly chipped away at its deficit, scoring single runs in each of its next four at-bats. Senior captain Peter O’Toole (Salem, Mass.) reached on an infield single, took third on an error, and scored on a sacrifice fly by Jonasson to account for the Beavers’ run in the home half of the third, and senior Jake Bartlett (Weymouth, Mass.) doubled in junior Sean Pucciarelli (Robbinsville, N.J.) with two outs in the fourth to make it 7-4.

Babson scored again with two outs in the fifth, as Jonasson doubled to left and scored when senior Dave Ahern (Bedford, Mass.) ripped a single down the leftfield line. Pucciarelli then singled, took second on a wild pitch, and scored on an RBI single to right by Bartlett in the sixth to pull the Beavers to within one at 7-6.

Doherty finally ran into trouble in the top of the seventh, as a hit-batsman and an error put two runners in scoring position with two outs. However, Bartlett made a sensational diving play to his left and threw out junior Corey Ketterer (Plymouth, Mass.) at first for the final out as Babson escaped the inning unscathed.

The Beavers finally regained the lead in the bottom of the seventh, scoring three runs on just two hits. Jonasson sparked the rally with a one-out single and, after moving to second on a passed ball, he advanced to third on a wild pitch on ball four to Ahern. An error on a failed pick-off attempt at first then allowed Jonasson to score the tying run while Ahern moved to second. That set the stage for Miller, who belted an RBI triple over the head of the Ram’s centerfielder and then scored on a sacrifice fly to center by senior captain Brian Scanlon (Lawrenceville, N.J.), giving Babson a 9-7 advantage.

After Doherty tossed a 1-2-3 eighth, a leadoff single by junior Steven Tramontozzi (Watertown, Mass.) chased the sophomore righty in the ninth. Swanton then came on to induce a double play grounder followed by a game-ending strikeout as the Beavers finished off the 9-7 comeback victory.

O’Toole, Jonasson, Miller, and Bartlett all had two hits apiece for Babson, while Jonasson scored three runs and Miller and Bartlett each knocked in two. Moriarty went 2-for-5 with a run and three RBIs for Framingham State, while Quinn and Ketterer also had two hits apiece.

Senior Stephen Marione (Medford, Mass.) gave up two runs in one inning of relief to take the loss for Framingham State. Junior Kevin Georgette (Burlington, Mass.) was the only Rams pitcher not to get tagged with a run, as he tossed a scoreless eighth while allowing one hit and striking out one.

The Rams return to action on Wednesday at Rhode Island College at 3:30 p.m.

Release courtesy of Babson Sports Information.