Since the last issue of The Hoot, the Judges’ baseball team has played eight baseball games. The first four games were an at-home series against the University of Chicago (UChicago) Maroons, and the following four games were played in New York against the New York University (NYU) Violets. The Judges won only two of these eight games.
Against the UChicago Maroons, the Judges went 0-4 as they could not keep up with the level of play the Maroons brought. This was the first time these two teams had met since the late ’90s, so the Judges went into this series blindly as the Maroons had never played on the Stein Diamond.
In the first game against the Maroons, the Judges did not score a single run. The Judges’ three hits were earned by Ben Kuja ’28, Mano Boutsikakos ’27 and Jake Freed (GRAD). Otherwise, the Judges had a very quiet game offensively.
In the second game of this series, the Judges seemed to wake up a bit as they scored six runs. Despite this, they still lost this game 6-9. Though they lost, the Judges did have two more hits than the 10 hits the Maroons got. The Judges’ runs came in the second, fourth and fifth innings. The Judges held a strong 2-6 lead after five innings. In the second, Boutsikak ’27 singled through the right side earning 2 RBIs, sending both Dylan Walsh ’27 and Danny Tambascia ’28 home. In the fourth, Henry Aronwald ’27 hit a home run, making the score 2-4. In the fifth inning, Kuja ’28 singled down the left field line, earning an RBI; Freed (GRAD) advanced to second and Boutsikakos ’27 scored once again. Then, Aronwald ’27 singled through the left side, earning another RBI; this single sent Conor Crowley ’27 to second and sent Kuja ’28 home. With that, the Judges had scored six runs, which concluded their scoring for the day.
Over the following two days, one game was played each day. Both games were rather unfortunate for the Judges as they were crushed by the Maroons twice. The games concluded in scores of 2-13 and 1-16, respectively.
The following weekend, the Judges embarked on a new endeavor to right the ship. Against NYU, the Judges won the first and fourth game of the series. These wins were the Judges’ first wins within the University Athletic Association (UAA) Conference this weekend.
In the first game of the series, the Judges won with a final score of 4-3. Their runs were spread across three innings; one in the fourth, two in the fifth and one more in the seventh. The Judges’ first run came as Eddie Zanor (GRAD) grounded into double play which got Kuja ’28 out on the play but did allow Crowley ’27 to score. The following run was hit by Kieth Lee ’28, who singled to right field and earned an RBI with getting Walsh ’27 home. Then, Crowley ’27 singled to left field, earning another RBI for the Judges as this hit allowed Lee ’28 to score. The Judges’ final and winning run of this game was a result of Tambascia ’28 homering to right field. This closed out the scoring for the game, 4-3, with two entirely scoreless innings to follow.
In their next game against NYU, the Judges got crushed 12-3. The Judges simply could not keep up with the Violets’ momentum during this game. The three RBIs in this game were earned by Zanor (GRAD), Freed (GRAD) and Tambascia ’28.
The next game was another ugly one for the Judges as they lost 3-16 to the Violets.
After two rough games, however, the Judges did bounce back with one of their most dominant wins of the season, with a score of 14-0 in seven innings. The Judges scored in four innings of the seven in this game; one in the first, six in the fourth and fifth and one more in the sixth to get to a total of 14 runs off of 15 hits and only accumulating one error. Eight Brandeis players scored the 14 runs, six of whom got home twice in the game.
Looking ahead, the Judges will look to improve their 10-16 record and 2-6 UAA-Conference record this coming weekend as they will host the Emory University Eagles this weekend, weather permitting. Come out to support your Judges in their campaign to earn some more UAA wins!
