Five members of the Brandeis baseball squad were selected to the UAA All-Conference teams. Phil Aurigemma 06 and Zach Golden 06 were selected to the All-UAA first team, while junior Ben Dashefsky 07, Tim Dunphy 06 and Chuck Sheehan 08 were named to the All-UAA second team. This is even more good news for the Judges, whom as of Wednesday, are 10-5.
The Judges were scheduled to play at Nichols College on Tuesday but the game was postponed due to rain and will be made up on April 24. Their scheduled contest at Albertus Magnus was also postponed on Wednesday due to snow. A make-up date has not yet been set. On Monday, Brandeis left fielder Dave Almeida 09 singled in the bottom of the tenth inning to give the Judges a 3-2 victory over visiting MIT. The winning run was due mostly to three walks. Before Almeida's at bat, MIT sophomore pitcher Joseph Yurko walked two players in the inning to set up a double play. On a 2-2 count, Almeida 09 drove the ball between the shortstop and third baseman.
This was Almeidas first game winning hit for the team. It felt great to get the game winning hit and to help keep our winning streak going. It was a fastball on the inside corner with 2 strikes. I got jammed a bit but put a good enough swing on it to get it through for a hit, he said.
MIT started the scoring in the top of the fifth inning with consecutive doubles by senior shortstop Greg Williams and junior center fielder Jason Witzberger. Witzberger also drove in the MITs second run in the top of the seventh inning.
Brandeis bats started out cold as they were trailing in the game until the bottom of the eighth inning. After scoring one run in the seventh inning, Brandeis tied the game when sophomore right fielder Jeff Bourdon's grounder to second base with runners at first and second was thrown away, which allowed designated hitter Jon Winston 07 to score from second base. The Judges had an opportunity to take the lead as they had runners on first and third with one out, but sophomore starting pitcher Jay Turner got a ground ball back to him to turn a double play and escape with the game still tied.
Brandeis star pitcher Tim Dunphy 06 tossed his 10th career complete game by going a career-high 10 innings. Dunphy improved his record to 4-2 by allowing eight hits, striking out four and walking only one. He allowed two earned runs to lower his team-leading ERA to 1.91. Almeida commented on Dunphys impressive performance. Dunphy pitched a great game as usual. He's almost a lock to go out there and give you a full game and hold the team to 3 or less runs. That can do wonders for the confidence of the rest of the team when you know he'll keep us in it until the end, he said.
On offense, Brandeis was led by Winston, who was 2-4 with a double and a run scored. Winston believed that this was an important win for the team. Right now the team is playing well and individually, I got off to a slow start but I feel like I am seeing the ball well which means I am hitting much better, he said.
Earlier this week Brandeis beat University of Massachusetts Dartmouth in a slugfest, 12-9. Brandeis took an early lead in the game and the Corsairs mounted a comeback but ultimately fell short. The Judges were winning 11-5 until the bottom of the eighth inning. Brandeis allowed two runs in the eighth and the ninth inning but James Collins 09 was able to shut the door and give the Judges the victory.
Almeida believes that the current winning streak is at the right time. I think the team is starting to do very well, he said. It's a perfect time for us to get hot as we have a few tough games coming up within the next week.
Brandeis faces Babson College at Wellesley, Mass. tomorrow.
