On Saturday, the Judges suffered their first loss, ending a five-game winning streak against Wheaton College. The Lyons dominated the Judges en route to a 6-0 shutout victory. The Lyons, winners of 12 of their past 14 games, sent rookie right-hander Nick Filloramo to the mound where he pitched a complete game, allowing just six hits and no runs. Lefty Mike Swerdloff ’13 took the loss for Brandeis giving up four earned runs on six hits in 7 1/3 innings.
On Sunday, Brandeis swept the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth in two very different games. In the first game, Brandeis starter Dylan Britton ’12 allowed just one run on four hits in five innings of play. Britton gave a run in the top of the fourth, but the Judges responded by scoring two runs in the bottom of the fourth on a single by Kenny Destremps ’13 and an error by UMD second baseman Dan DeMello. UMD scored the tying run in the top of the seventh but the Judges responded in the bottom of seventh with a walk-off single by Nicholson to win the game 3-2.
In the second game, offense led the way as the Judges took a 14-7 victory. UMD took an early 3-0 lead on three RBI singles in the first inning, forcing Brandeis Coach Pete Varney to pull starter Colin Markel ’14. However, the Judges responded by scoring six runs in the bottom of the first, knocking out the UMD starter. The Judges tacked on two more runs in the second—one run in the third, two in the fourth and three in the fifth—to take a dominant 14-3 lead heading into the top of the sixth. Pitcher Stefan Weiss ’13 relieved Markel and gave up just four hits through the fifth inning. He gave up four runs in the top of the sixth but left-hander Jesse Link ’13 came in on relief and closed out the game. Weiss was credited with the win. Cortese led the charge for the Judges going 3-for-3 with three runs scored, Destremps went 3-for-4 with two runs scored and O’Hare finished 2-for-4 with four RBIs.
After sweeping the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth, the Judges lost a heartbreaker to Worcester State, with a final score of 10-8 in 10 innings, and fell to 17-12 on the season. Brandeis scored their eight runs on eight hits, but played a lot of small ball. The Judges reached base by walk seven times, had two men hit by pitches, executed three sacrifice bunts and stole five bases without anyone getting caught. Second baseman O’Hare was the only player with multiple hits, going 2-for-3 with two walks, two runs scored and a steal. Third baseman Brian Ing ’14 had a double while catcher Destremps and first baseman Eric Rosenberg ’11 each hit a homer.
Worcester State led a steady offensive attack scoring 10 runs on 17 hits. Worcester State got out to an early lead scoring three runs in the first inning off of Brandeis starter McGrath. Brandeis got back into the game with three two-run frames in the second, fifth and sixth innings taking a 6-3 lead into the top of the seventh. In an unlucky turn of events Brandeis was forced to pull McGrath due to a possible injury and Worcester State immediately took advantage of the bullpen, tying the game at 6-6 by the end of the inning. Worcester State retook an 8-6 lead in the eighth and carried that lead into the bottom of the ninth. Rosenberg took WSU closer Shaun Slattery deep to knot the game at 8-8 and take the game to extra innings. However, WSU would take a 10-8 lead in the 10th and Brandeis was unable to respond.
The Judges continue play on Sunday when they play at Western New England College at 1 p.m.
