Recently, the Brandeis Baseball team has played in two University Athletic Association (UAA) Conference series. The first was an at-home four-game series against the Emory University Eagles, and the second was against the Washington University at St. Louis (WashU) in Missouri. Unfortunately, the Judges lost all eight games, but there were some close calls that certainly could have gone in the Judges’ favor. Baseball is a game of failure and sometimes the only way through the growth and development stage for players is to trust the process.
In the Judges series against the Emory Eagles, they had three relatively close games and one blowout. When the teams first faced each other, the Judges lost a long 14-inning battle against the Eagles 9-10. This game was back-and-forth throughout, with the score being 3-5 at the end of the second inning, 7-5 at the end of the sixth and tied 9-9 by the conclusion of the ninth inning before extra innings started. Four extra innings were played before the Eagles could score the winning run in the top of the 14th inning. This was a hard fought game from both sides. Each team had 13 hits, while the Judges had four errors compared to the Eagles’ one error.
The Judges and Eagles faced each other once more that day in a seven-inning game in which the Judges lost 1-3. Brandeis’ one run was earned in the sixth inning when Ben Kuja ’28 singled to shortstop and earned an RBI as Connor Crowley ’27 got home off of his hit. The Judges had the 1-0 lead after the sixth inning, but the Eagles bounced back with a solid three-run seventh inning to seal the deal for their win. Despite the loss, the Judges did come out with three more hits than the Eagles during this game. However, that was not enough for the Judges to come out victorious after a quite fatiguing doubleheader.
The next day, the Judges suffered their worst loss to the Eagles as the game concluded 1-11, Emory. The Judges’ one run came in the second inning when Keith Lee ’28 hit a solo homer. The Judges held the 1-0 lead until the fourth inning when the Eagles started scoring and did not let up after the flood gates opened and their bats got hot.
In the Judges’ final game against the Eagles two weeks ago, they lost another exceptionally tough battle to the Eagles 10-11. The Judges scored 13 runs, just like the Eagles during this outing. The game was relatively low-scoring until the seventh and final inning. The teams went into the inning with the Judges leading 4-3, however, the Eagles went on to score eight runs in the top of the seventh. This invited the Judges to have a lucrative inning in terms of runs and they did not disappoint entirely. The Judges scored six runs in the bottom of the seventh to fall just one run short of the Eagles to retire the side at 11-10.
More recently, the Judges faced the WashU Bears. Though this was yet another four-loss series for the Judges, they were still able to hold their own in the two doubleheaders they played against the Bears.
In their first meeting of the weekend, the Bears won 10-4 against the Judges. It took the Judges seven innings to score a single run. One run was earned for the Judges in the eighth while three were scored in the top of the ninth, which was not enough to surmount the 10 that the Bears had already scored.
The next game was another relatively sluggish one at the start. The first run of the game was not scored until the top of the sixth inning. From there, the Bears went on to score nine runs while the Judges could only score two; one in the sixth and one in the eighth.
After the first doubleheader against the WashU Bears, the teams had a day off in between doubleheaders. During this time, the Judges hoped to harness the necessary momentum they would need to beat the Bears the following day. Despite this, the Judges were not able to score a single run in their doubleheader this past Sunday. They lost to the Bears 0-4 and then 0-1. Though these games were not entire blowouts, it was still a disappointing way for the Judges to close out the weekend.
In hopes of rebounding from their eight-game loss-streak, the Judges will host the Case Western Reserve University Spartans this weekend in a three-day series. They will play a doubleheader on the 26 and one game on both the 25 and 27. The 25 will be the Judges’ Pride Game in allyship with the LGBTQ+ community. Come to the Stein Diamond to support your Judges this weekend for some springtime fun! There will be free food and activities to be participated in at this Friday’s Pride Game! After this there will only be two home-games left for the Judges to play for the year, so you do not want to miss out before it is too late!
