This week the Judges baseball team traveled to the 2016 University Athletic Association tournament in Sanford, FL. The Judges came into the tournament with a 3-0 winning streak beating St. Joseph’s three times: 4-3, 4-3 and 8-2. On March 6, the Judges took on the Case Western Reserve University (CWRU) Spartans. CWRU scored three runs in the first inning, but the Judges responded with back-to-back strikeouts with CWRU runners on second and third, holding the Spartans at three.
Connor Doyle ’16 brought in the first runner with an RBI to put the Judges on the board. Anthony Nomakeo ’17 also delivered an RBI groundout to add another run before the end of inning. Five Judges had two hits on the day with Graduate Student Rob Trenk having two runs with an RBI and a run scored. He went 2-5 and leads the Judges with a .529 batting average. Short stop Jay Schaff ’16, center field Liam O’Connor ’16 and second baseman Benjamin Bavly ’19 all finished the game with two hits. Elio Fernandez ’17 struck out six batters when Bradley Bousquet ’18 came into the game, only giving up two runs. Liam Coughlin ’17 finished the game only allowing three hits and one unearned run.
The Judges took on the New York University Violets on March 7 and dominated with an 8-1 win. Pitcher Sean O’Neill ’18 only allowed three-hit balls in eight innings. O’Neill recorded a career-high of nine strikeouts. O’Neill has pitched at least seven innings in eight of his nine career starts. He also allowed the first hit for the Violets in the fifth inning,
The Judges scored runs in six of their nine at-bats, put two runs in the second and ninth inning, while also scoring one run in the first, fifth, sixth and seventh innings. Greg Heineman ’16 led with two RBIs and a run scored with his first homerun of the season. Ryan Healy ’16 scored two runs and hit a double at the plate. The Judges took advantage of seven walks, four stolen bases and five errors from the Violets, leading to their victory.
In their third game the Judges took on the Emory Eagles. The team dropped a 7-4 score to Emory University leading to at 4-2 overall, while the Eagles, ranked third in Division III, improved to a 12-3 record. The Judges came back from a 3-0 score in the top of the fourth inning when Trenk was hit by a pitch and Healy hit a double. Doyle brought in Trenk and shortly after Bavly brought in Healy with a single, making it a 3-2 game. The Eagles scored three more runs in the fifth inning. The Judges got their run back in the top of the seventh by a sacrificed pop-fly by Schaff. The Judges finished the game with a run in the ninth from an RBI by Nomakeo.
