WALTHAM, Mass.- The Brandeis baseball team racked up 10 hits and graduate student 1B Pat Nicholson (Walpole, Mass./ Walpole)had a terrific 3-4 afternoon, but the Judges fell to Western New England 10-2. The Golden Bears jumped all over rookie starter Kyle Brenner (Brookfield, Mass./ St. Peter-Marian) with three consecutive two-run innings to open up a comfortable lead. Brandeis was never able to mount a serious rally and they fell to 5-16 (1-7 UAA) while Western New England improved to 9-6 on the year.
Brenner was able to avoid trouble in the first inning when he allowed two hits but escaped unscathed. Unfortunately, the same could not be said about the next three innings. In the second, a leadoff double followed by a single saw two Golden Bears in scoring position with no outs. Two batters later, junior 2B Tim Clark (W. Springfield, Mass./ Avon Old Farms) delivered with a RBI double and sophomore CF Jeff Schult (Wappingers Falls, N.Y./ John Jay) followed with a RBI groundout giving Western New England the early 2-0 lead. The Golden Bears would tack on two more in the third and two more in the fourth as two errors in that frame proved costly for the Judges.
Brandeis was down 7-0 in the bottom of the sixth when they broke through thanks to Nicholson. Nicholson led off the inning with a hard hit triple down the right field line that skipped under the diving RF's glove and rolled all the way to the wall. Senior C Kenny Destremps (Mashpee, Mass./ Mashpee) wasted no time in getting him home by taking the first pitch he saw and driving it into left field for a RBI single. Brandeis would score again in the bottom of the eighth when Nicholson doubled with one out and nobody on. Two batters later, rookie 3B Tom McCarthy (Yonkers, N.Y./ Fieldston School) rocketed a ball towards the shortstop that took a fortuitous bounce and hopped off his glove and into left field, allowing Nicholson to score his second run of the game. Still, Brandeis did not manage any more runs and fell 10-2.
The Judges were led by Nicholson who went 3-4 with a double and triple and scored both of their runs for the game. Rookie DH Dan Gad (Mansfield, Mass./ Mansfield) contributed a 2-5 performance while junior RF Pat Seaward (York, Maine/ York) also had two hits on the day. Brenner took the loss after five innings of work while classmate Brent Edmunds (No. Hampton, N.H./ Winnacunnet), in just his sixth appearance of the year, pitched a perfect inning in relief.
The Golden Bears featured four players with at least two hits as they totaled 14 hits for the afternoon. They were led by junior 3B Mike Rubino (Northford, Conn./ Hill Regional Career) who went 4-6 with three RBI, a run, and one of Western New England's six doubles. Junior RF Matt Anthonis (Guilford, Conn./ Guilford) also had a great day going 3-4 with a walk, three runs, and one RBI. The Golden Bears' starting pitcher junior Mike Lospinuso (West Islip, N.Y./ West Islip) earned the win with seven strong innings, scattering nine hits and allowing one earned run to go with no walks and three strikeouts.
Brandeis continues their season with a doubleheader on Saturday March 31st at WPI. Western New England has a doubleheader on the same day against Nichols College.