The Brandeis University baseball team made their home debut with their new head coach Derek Carlson ’91 this past Tuesday. The Judges came into the game with a 7-9 record after coming back from their 19-9 win against UMass Boston. On March 30 the Judges took on Bridgewater. Throughout the entire game, the Judges and the Bridgewater State Bears were neck and neck until the Judges pulled away in the sixth to take the game 9-7.
All nine Brandeis starters had hits, and seven of them scored runs. Second baseman Benjamin Bavly ’19 delivered the game-winning hit, an RBI triple in the bottom of the eighth driving in shortstop Jay Schaff ’16. Bavly’s triple was his fifth of the season, tying a school single-season record of triples, which was set in 1979 by George Banks. Rob Trenk ’15 MA’16 had three RBI’s with his first home run of the season, which tied the game in the second inning. Center fielder Liam O’Connor ’16 added two RBIs in the sixth inning with a single creating a 6-5 lead for the Judges against the Bears. Trenk also helped give the Judges a 7-6 lead in the seventh inning with an RBI double, bringing in Ryan Healy ’16 for the run.
Sam Miller ’16 started pitching for the Judges in the Bridgewater game and gave up six hits and four runs in the first four innings with one strikeout. Ryan Pocock ’18 earned his first collegiate win with four innings at the plate. He only allowed three earned runs, along with striking out four batters and walking one. Healy finished the game with a 1-2-3 inning.
The Brandeis Judges then took on Salem State on March 30. The game started off slow with no runs scored in the first four innings. The Judges took control over the game in the next two innings by scoring six runs with the help of Doyle, Max Hart ’16, Trenk and Ryan Tettemer ’17 to take a 6-1 led by the end of the sixth inning. That was the last of the runs for the Judges, while Salem State scored five more runs to tie up the game. It was not until the 11th inning when Healy hit a double to bring in O’Connor. Healy had the last run, brought in by a double from Doyle. The game ended with an 8-8 score after 12 innings of play, the first tie in a decade.
The Judges now have an 8-9-1 overall record with a 1-0 record at home. The team has a .286 batting average with seven home runs with just half the season played. The Judges will take on Rhode Island College on March 31 to close their completion for the March. They are back at home April 3 against Johnson and Wales and will face off in the UAA again April 16 at NYU.
