A trip from UMass Boston to Babson College doesn’t even last 20 miles, but the two New England foes certainly won’t complain about making a much longer trip this coming week, with the prospect of another head-to-head meeting as the Division 3 baseball season reaches its ultimate conclusion.
Playing Super Regional contests on their respective home fields, the Beacons (35-12) and Beavers (38-8) made Saturday a memorable one, emerging victorious to punch tickets to the College World Series in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, and give the final eight-team field a New England duo for the second time in three years.
“Having two New England teams going is unreal,” UMass Boston head coach Brendan Eygabroat said following Saturday’s 6-2 win over New England College (29-18) in the deciding Super Regional game. “I texted (Babson’s Matt Noone) this morning and said I had ‘Beaver Fever’ until we faced them. … I’m glad that New England is sending two teams because New England was really, really good this year, and hopefully we can make some noise.”
The two New England clubs were placed in opposite World Series brackets and will open the double-elimination tournament Friday against Webster (1:15 p.m.) and Johns Hopkins (4:30 p.m.), respectively. A head-to-head meeting would not come before the best-of-three Championship Series, which is slated to begin June 3 or 4.
