The Brandeis Judges baseball team had a very exciting week with a total of five games to close out their season. On Wednesday, April 27, the Judges increased their winning streak to nine by taking down Wentworth Institute of Technology 7-4, which is the longest winning streak since 2002. It wasn’t until the bottom of the third when graduate student Rob Trenk scored from an RBI by Liam O’Connor ’16, putting Brandeis on the scoreboard. Brandeis scored again with a single from Trenk to bring in Ryan Healy ’16 for another run showing a 2-1 lead entering the fifth. Wentworth took the lead by scoring three runs, but their run ended with the Judges scoring five more runs by the end of the ninth, finishing the game 7-4.
The next day, the Judges took on Johnson and Wales at Brandeis when the winning streak came to a halt with a 12-4 loss. They gave up six runs in the first inning, five in the second and another five in the third. The Judges could not recover from the Wildcat’s lead, leaving the Judges with a 16-16-1 record. The Judges came out strong on May 1 against Trinity with a 16-4 win. Healy went three-for-six with a double, a home run, three runs and three RBIs. O’Connor had three doubles as part of a four-hit performance that extended his hitting streak to 14 games. The Judges scored nine runs in the first two innings. They scored twice in the top of the third on an RBI triple by Jay Schaff ’17 and another O’Connor double, but Trinity came back by scoring three runs. This win brought the 10th win in the last 11 games leaving the Judges with an 18-16-1 record, the first winning regular season record since 2011.
As the regular season came to a close, our O’Connor was named the University Athletic Association Hitter of the Week for games played from April 25 to May 1. He hit a .667 batting average, going 8-12. He went two-for-four with a walk and an RBI at the Wentworth game and continued his momentum during the Johnson and Wales game, going 2-3 with a walk and two runs scored. He shined in his best game of the week against Trinity going four-for-five with three doubles, a walk, two RBIs and two runs scored in a 16-4 win. He reached a career high batting line of .433/.490/.489. O’Connor leads the team in batting average, on-base percentage, hits, walks and runs.
The team ended the season with a 4-0 win against UMass-Dartmouth on May 4 in eight innings. Liam Coughlin ’17 threw a five-hit shoot out over seven innings, closing their regular season with a 19-16-1 record. The Judges await a possible ECAC Tournament berth on Monday. We are very proud of our baseball Judges and excited to see what they will accomplish in the possible coming games and next year.
