The Brandeis baseball team won their first game of the season in one of two double headers over the weekend of March 10-11. All four games were played in Northborough, MA at the New England Baseball Complex.
In the first game of the weekend, the Judges defeated Bowdoin 8-3 in a morning game. Brandeis got up to an early lead, scoring three runs in the first inning. First baseman Darren Bates ’21 and infielder Mike Khoury ’21 both earned spots on base by taking hits-by-pitch early in the first inning. Both scored runs, helped out by a two-run double from teammate Isaac Fossas ’21. Outfielder Dan Frey ’21 batted in Fossas off a single for the last run of the first inning.
From the first inning, the Judges dominated the Bowdoin Polar Bears. The team saw one home run off the bat of Khoury in the sixth inning. Rookie pitcher Mason Newman ’21 led the Judges to the win off the mound. It was the first win of his collegiate career, and the rookie Judge advanced to 1-0 in his personal record.
Later in the day, the Judges couldn’t keep the momentum going, dropping the second game to the Polar Bears 9-12 despite a home run from yet another rookie, Alex Parrot ’21. Khoury, Bates and Fossas again added to the team’s scoreboard, all earning at least one RBI during the second game. Infielder Victor Oppenheimer ’20, utility player Tommy Sand ’21 and outfielder Dan O’Leary ’20 also earned RBIs in the game against Bowdoin.
The next day, the Judges played a double-header against Western New England. The Judges had a rough start in the day, dropping the first game 4-12, but put up more of a fight in the second game. They fell short, however, with a final score of 3-7. In the first game, the Judges were head to head with the Western New England Golden Bears. The Judges were the first to score with two runs on the board in the first inning by Victor Oppenheimer ’20. The Bears responded with two of their own runs in the second and two more in the third. Frey and Fossas scored the Judge’s final runs in the fourth inning. The Golden Bears did not stop and went on to score eight more runs.
The second game shortly followed and once again the Judges stayed close to the Golden Bears for seven innings before the Bears scored four runs in the eighth inning to close out the game. The first run was an RBI from Tommy Sand ’21 on a ground ball with a man on third. Donnie Weisse ’20 drove in Sand with an RBI single to center. At the top of the seventh, Daniel Schupper ’19 left a runner on base when he got a strike out and a ground out to close out the seventh inning for the Bears. With the Judges at bat in the seventh, Fossas hit one deep into center field. Looking like it might clear the fence, the Bears made a running catch just a few steps away from the wall to send the game into extra innings. The Bears capitalized on the extra innings and finished off the game with four more runs.
Despite the loss, relief pitcher Bradley Bousquet ’18 threw 3.1 innings only allowing two runs and sticking out five batters. Jackson Carman ’20 come in after Bousquet and pitched three innings of one-run ball, only allowing two hits and zero walks.
The Judges came back to the field at WPI on the 15th. Once again the Judges kept their opponent close, but feel short in the end to lose the game 9-12. They go into their next set of game with a 1-6.They hit the road this weekend to play a double-header against Clark and then return home for two games against Wentworth.
