After the first five games of the season were postponed due to weather-related field conditions, the Judges’ baseball team started their 2023 season this week. Their season commenced with a game against Wheaton College on Sunday, March 5, they then went on to play against Endicott College on Tuesday, March 7 and against Tufts University on Wednesday, March 8. Their current record is (1-2) after their first three games.
Starting with their game against the Wheaton College Lyons on Sunday, the Judges’ strong pitching by Christian Tejada ’23 and Marc Maestri (GRAD) held the Lyons to a mere four hits and zero runs during the game. The Judges scored no runs scored until the fifth inning with both pitchers keeping the hitting to a minimum. Though the Lyons remained scoreless for the entire game, the Judges still experienced some dangerous situations where the Lyons could have capitalized; however, the Judges were able to escape without allowing any runs. After giving up a single up the middle to a Lyons batter during the sixth inning, Judges’ Coach Derek Carlson pulled Tejada and put in Maestri to pitch the remainder of the game. This 5.2-inning outing for Tejada was a new career high. He threw 45 strikes for his 86 total pitches. The Judges captured their first run in the sixth inning as a hit up the middle by Sam Nugent ’24 allowed Steven Simon ’23 to score. The Judges scored another three runs during the bottom of the seventh inning as catcher Justin Keeler ’25 hit a three-run home run, the first of his career, closing the inning with the Judges winning 4-0 against the Lyons. During the eighth inning, Alex Kim ’26 hit a single with runners on each corner, driving in his first career RBI. That was the final run of the game as each team went scoreless in the ninth inning. The final score was a 5-0 win for the Judges over the Lyons. Closing out the game, the Judges had two players, Simon and Kim, who were each multiple hitters. This win for the Judges was their first against the Lyons since 2007 and their first-ever shutout against them too.
In their game on Tuesday, the Judges faced the Endicott College Gulls, who are currently ranked 10th in Division III according to Collegiate Baseball. This time, the Judges were the ones who were shut out. The scoring against the Judges began in the first as the Gulls scored three runs off of pitcher Winston Wacha ’25 in his first start. To follow, Endicott sent 16 batters to the plate in the second inning and scored 12 runs off of those at-bats. The Gulls scored two more runs in the third inning and three final points in the eighth inning. The Judges were able to get five hits; all from players in the top three of their batting order. Nugent and Simon each had two hits while Kim had one. The Judges were not able to contend with how each of the nine starters for the Gulls had hits.
On Wednesday, the Judges faced the Tufts University Jumbos in their final game of the week. Looking to redeem themselves from their game on Tuesday, the Judges started off the game strong with a solo homer by Nugent to lead off the hitting. This was his third career home run and the first of the season. Despite the homer to start off the game, the Jumbos responded in the bottom of the first as they scored off of a double and two infield grounders. In the second, the Jumbos extended their lead with an additional two runs. The inning concluded with the Jumbos leading 3-1 over the Judges. The Jumbos scored another to make it five runs off of a sacrifice fly in the fourth. In the fifth inning, the Judges scored their second run of the game as Simon hit a solo homer which was his second home run of the season. The Jumbos plated their fourth and fifth runs of the game off of two solo runs in the fifth and sixth innings. However, the Judges broke up their scoring through a pinch RBI single by Aidan Schleer ’25 in the eighth inning. The Jumbos followed the Judges’ third run with three final runs of their own to conclude the scoring for the game. The Judges lost to the Jumbos with a final score of 9-3. Regarding stats, the Judges had five players earn their six hits of the game, with Kim having the only multi-hit outing. Kim was the only Judge to score an extra-base hit other than the two home runs that resulted in the first two points the Judges scored.
Looking ahead, the Judges’ next game will be on Sunday, March 12, at Nichols College at 3 p.m. Their game against MIT which was initially scheduled for Saturday, March 11, has been postponed.
