Springfield, Mass. — April 21, 2012 — Led by Sean Smith‘s five hits, the Springfield College baseball team swept a double-header over Babson College, 8-3 and 9-6, this afternoon at SC’s Berry-Allen Field. As a result, SC finishes second in the New England Women’s and Men’s Athletic Conference regular season.

SC raises its record to 18-12 overall, 11-7 in the NEWMAC. The Pride have now won six in a row. Babson falls to 20-14 overall, 10-8 in the conference. Babson finishes third in the final regular-season NEWMAC standings,

Ironically, after sweeping Babson all three games over the weekend, Springfield will open its NEWMAC post-season at Babson next Saturday (April 28) at 12 noon. The other game to be played at the exact same time will be #4-seeded WPI at #1-seeded Wheaton. That game will be played at Wheaton.

In game #1, it was Springfield leading 2-1 after five innings of play. But the Pride then scored six runs in the bottom of the sixth to take an 8-2 lead. Babson added one run in the top of the seventh to end it.

SC’s biggest hit in the sixth was a two-run single by right-fielder Kyle DiFranco (E. Longmeadow, Mass.) Smith, a sophomore catcher from Broken Arrow, Okla.,, led the Pride with three hits in four at-bats, including a home run. He knocked in two runs in this contest and scored two more. DiFranco also had two hits.

For Babson, junior third baseman Chris Kucher had two hits, scoring two runs. No one else for the Beavers had more than one hit.

The winning pitcher was senior right-hander Greg Marakovits (Rocky Hill, Conn.), one of six seniors honored on Senior Day before the start of this game. Marakovits allowed three runs, two earned, on eight hits. He struck out six and walked four, and is now 3-2.

The starter and loser for Babson was sophomore Derek Richards (Framingham, Mass.). He allowed seven runs on seven hits, and is now 3-4.

In game #2, Babson took a 2-0 lead into the bottom of the third. But SC scored two in the third and added four more in the fourth. Babson came back with three in the sixth and then tied it at 6-all going into the bottom of the seventh.

But the Pride countered with two in the seventh and one in the eighth to win it. The big hit was a two-run home run by senior first baseman Karl Quist (New Preston, Conn.) in the seventh. Smith knocked in the ninth run with a single in the eighth.

Freshman right-hander Mike DeMille (East Milton, Mass.) picked up the victory in 1 1/3 innings of hitless relief. He walked one and struck out one. For Babson, the loser was senior Jeff Burress (Cumberland, R.I.).

Springfield struck for 15 hits in this game, including three by sophomore third baseman Frank Calabrese (East Longmeadow, Mass.). Four others had two hits apiece, including Smith, freshman center-fielder Steve Starr (Lebanon, Conn.), senior second baseman Mike Corletta (Westtown, N.Y.), and sophomore infielder Jared Hopkins (Cranston, R.I.).

For Babson, senior left-fielder Billy Miller (Sagamore Beach, Mass.) had two hits in game #2.