Babson College Baseball Downs Plymouth State, 6-1, in Home Opener

BABSON PARK, Mass.—Junior Jack Halpin (Glastonbury, Conn.) and first-year Brian McHale (Ramsey, N.J.) each drove in a pair of runs, and junior Ken Rotunno (East Islip, N.Y.) gave up just one run over seven innings as Babson College defeated Plymouth State University, 6-1, in non-conference baseball action on Wednesday afternoon at Govoni Field.

With its fourth win in the last five games, Babson is now 6-3-1, while Plymouth State falls to 6-9 on the year.

Halpin was 2-for-3 with a home run, McHale had two hits, including a double, and sophomore Mark Webber (Norwell, Mass.) finished 2-for-4 with a run scored to lead the Beavers. Junior Owen Shea (Northborough, Mass.) also doubled, drove in a run and was one of six different players to score on the afternoon.

Junior Jarek Krajewski (Cranston, R.I.) went 2-for-3 with a walk, while sophomore Luke Mancini
(Scotia, N.Y.) doubled and scored for the Panthers.

Following a scoreless first inning, Babson plated at least one run in each of the next four frames to build a 5-0 lead. Shea scored following a lead-off walk in the bottom of the second, and first-year Connor Gill (Sterling, Mas.) started the third with a single down the right field line before coming around on Halpin's one-out base knock.

The Green and White added to its lead in the fourth when McHale doubled to the base of the wall in straight away center, driving in Webber and first-year Daniel Cooney (Verona, N.J.) for a 4-0 advantage. Halpin pushed the lead to five with two outs in the fifth with a solo homer over the right field fence.

Plymouth State, which left runners on second and third in the sixth, finally got on the board in the top of the seventh as Mancini led off with a double and scored two batters later on an RBI groundout by sophomore Cam Ruziak (Sterling, Mass.). The Panthers put two more runners on in the frame, but Rotunno escaped any further damage with an inning-ending fly out to right field.

Rotunno (2-1), who was making his second start of the year and just the sixth of his career, was in control throughout his outing. He scattered six hits and walked just one while equaling the longest start of his career. Junior John Russolillo (Georgetown, Mass.) worked around a one-out single in the eighth thanks to McHale, who started a brilliant double play with a diving stop behind the second-base bag, and sophomore Matt Cuneo (Ashland, Mass.) tossed a perfect ninth to close out the victory.

Senior Matti Doxter (Somersworth, N.H.) gave up four earned runs on six hits while striking out eight in six innings to fall to 0-3 on the year for Plymouth State.

Babson returns to action on Thursday when it hosts Keene State at 3:30 p.m., while the Panthers head to Western New England for a doubleheader on Saturday starting at 12 p.m.

GAME NOTES
• The Beavers are now 5-4 all-time against Plymouth State with the teams having split the last four meetings.
• Gill and Webber extended their respective hitting streaks to 10 and eight games in Wednesday's victory.
• Babson is now 17-4 over the last two years when scoring six or more runs.
• With a pair of shutout innings on Wednesday, the Beavers' bullpen has allowed just one earned run over the last 14 innings going back to the team's March 16 win over Rensselaer.