The baseball team started April off with four games against Case Western Reserve University (CWRU), currently ranked number 13 in Division III. In the first home game (held at Victory Field in Watertown), the Judges fell 5-2 to their opponents. Brandeis scored the first run of the game at the bottom of the first inning with a RBI-double from Dan Frey ’21, who batted in Victor Oppenheimer ’20, starting at first base. CWRU answered immediately by getting on the board in the top of the second inning. Donnie Weisse ’20 ended the inning by throwing out a Spartan at the plate on a line drive. Two innings went by before another run was put on the board; the Spartans drove in the run with a double base run hit. It was not enough to come back from the lead CWRU secured with two runs in the eighth inning and their final run in the ninth.
Shortly after the first game ended, the Judges and the Spartans faced off again, this time on home turf. The Judges feel short again, losing the second game 6-12. The Spartans started off strong, leading 9-0 at the end of the top of the sixth inning. Brandeis got on the board at the end of the sixth with an RBI from Frey. Scott Ziegler ’21 stepped up to plate with bases loaded, earning his first collegiate home run and grand slam. Frey finished the game with 3-4 with an RBI and a run scored. Ziegler’s four RBIs tied for the game-high. Tim Lopez ‘20 returned to the mound after a month sidelined with an injury.
The next day, the Judges faced off against the Spartans in a double header. The Judges feel short again with a loss 3-8. The team had a rough start, allowing four runs in the first three innings. In the bottom on the fourth, the judges got on the board when Frey hit a sacrifice fly to RBI Weisse, bringing the score up to 5-1. Almost two innings went by before the Judges got on the board again. In the bottom of the sixth inning, Weisse scored on a throwing error by one of the Spartan in-fielders making the score 5-2. The Judges allowed the Spartans to advance three runs before earning another of their own in the bottom of the ninth. Ziegler walked for an RBI.
Soon after the conclusion of the first game, the second game started, but again, the Judges struggled to get on the board. CWRU went on to score four runs in the top of the fifth inning. But in the bottom of the fifth, the Judges scored again when Weisse signed in the middle to have Zeigler run in making the score at the bottom of the fifth 10-2. The judges finally got into the groove in the bottom of the sixth and earned six runs. Isaac Fossas ’21 doubled to right field earning two RBIs, bringing home O’Leary and Frey. Shortly after, Shaw doubled down on the in-field line to also earn two RBIs; bringing home Fossas and Mike Khoury ’21, while Luke Hall ’21 advanced to third. Ziegler hit a sacrifice fly to bring Hall home and advance Brian to third, and the score stood at 10-7. The Judges earned their last run of the game when Brian scored off of Oppenheimer singled out on an infield hit to second base. The final score of the game was 14-8.
Despite the losses, the Judges returned to their home field on Tuesday, April 10 to play against number 8-ranked UMass Boston. The Judges got on the board in the bottom of the second after allowing five runs. Hall hit a sacrifice fly, which brought O’Leary home for the Judges’ first run of the game. The Judges scored again in the bottom of the fourth inning when Hall hit another sacrifice fly. In the bottom of the fifth, Fossas singled through the left side, which allowed O’Leary to advance to second and Frey to come home, earning the Judges third run of the game. Nick Yanco ’21 hit a pop fly to the right field to bring home Khoury to earn the Judges fourth and final run of the game. The final score of the game was 11-4. The Judges return to the mound Friday, April 13 to face off against Emory University for a double header and two games over the course of the weekend. The Judges return to the home field on April 20 to play against New York University.
