Since Brandeis left-fielder Sam Nugent ’23 arrived on campus his first year, he has made an immediate impact. Playing in every game since 2020, Nugent has a career 0.294 batting average and a whopping 0.419 on-base percentage resulting from his superior plate discipline and ability to foul off tough pitches. Nugent has been an excellent defender and is a terror on the basepaths, with 15 career stolen bases. However, the one thing Nugent lacked in his career was a home run. That changed Wednesday, when Nugent drilled a pitch from Patrick Cashin of Bridgewater St. that hit the scoreboard above the left-center field fence. Nugent did it again in the second, hitting another homer to left-center. Nugent’s monster night was part of another strong offensive showing for Brandeis, who defeated Bridgewater St. 18-6.
Since April 8, the Judges have gone 7-7. Twelve of those games were against University Athletic Association (UAA) opponents. The Judges now sit at 17-12 and fourth in the UAA at 6-10.
Brandeis welcomed New York University (NYU) for a four-game series from April 8 through April 10. The Violets scored four times in the first inning on April 8, setting the tone for the series. Brandeis responded with five runs, capped by a two-run homer from graduate student Victor Oppenheimer. Brandeis held a 12-6 lead going into the seventh, but the Violets scored seven unanswered runs in the final three innings and took game 1 of the series 13-12. Brandeis won the second game of the series, which featured two separate rain delays, on April 9 in walk-off fashion 6-5. The teams split the doubleheader on April 10, with NYU winning 17-3 in the first game, and Brandeis winning 8-6 to close out the series.
Brandeis defeated Lasell 20-6 on April 13, in the battle for Stein Diamond (Lasell also plays its home games at Stein Diamond). Brandeis scored four times in each of the first two innings and never looked back. Graduate students Mike Khoury (GRAD), Dan Frey (GRAD) and Steven Simon ’23 all homered. Brandeis muscled 19 hits and junior Reid Latham pitched 1.2 scoreless innings to pick up his first collegiate win.
The strong showing against Lasell carried into the weekend when Brandeis hosted Washington University in St. Louis (WashU) for a four-game series. Brandeis took the opener, winning 11-6 on April 15. WashU took game 1 of the doubleheader on April 16, 18-8. In the nightcap, Brandeis scored four runs in the bottom of the month to defeat the Bears 7-6. With a 10-4 win in the series finale on April 17, Brandeis won a season series against WashU for the first time in school history.
The following weekend, Brandeis concluded its UAA season with a trip to Atlanta to take on the Emory Eagles. Despite each game being close, Brandeis dropped all four games. Brandeis lost 12-11 on April 22, fell 2-1 and 13-9 on April 23, and dropped the series finale on April 24, 19-10.
The Judges happily returned home and knocked off Bridgewater St. in seven innings on Wednesday. Brandeis scored 11 runs in the first two innings and 17 runs in the first four. In addition to Nugent, graduate student Luke Hall also homered. Junior Brian King went 5-for-5 with four runs batted in. Brandeis totaled 18 hits and graduate student Brandon Musto struck out three across three innings to pick up his second win of the season.
With his career night, Nugent, who has been elevated to the leadoff spot in the Brandeis lineup from the nine spot, increased his batting average to 0.311. Nugent is part of a prolific offense, which averages over eight runs per game. Khoury, who leads the team with 11 home runs this season, is just two shy of tying the Brandeis record of 31 for a career. Graduate student Dan Frey is hitting 0.402 and leads the team with 13 steals. Of Frey’s 47 hits, 23 of them have been for extra bases. Hall is second on the team in homers with eight.
The Judges will face Tufts on Friday, April 29, at Stein Diamond at 3 p.m. Brandeis will host Suffolk on Sunday, May 1, for a doubleheader, with game one starting at noon.
