FRAMINGHAM, Mass. (courtesy Framingham State sports infomation) -- Brandeis senior Dylan Britton (Poughquag, N.Y./Arlington) picked up his team-leading third win of the season for the Judges today after pitching six innings to defeat the host Framingham State University Rams, 10-6, despite a strong wind at William D. Carey Field.
"I just battled today despite not having my best stuff", Britton would say afterwards. "The team really came through and got a bunch of hits and scored a bunch of runs." Britton allowed nine hits and six earned runs, striking out two and walking one. Sophomore Elio Fernandez (Bronx, N.Y./Fordham Prep) was outstanding in relief, tossing 2.2 innings of two-hit ball with three Ks and a walk before giving way to Kyle Brenner (Brookfield, Mass./St. Peter Marian) for the final out.
Ivan Colon suffered his first loss on the season after going four innings and allowing four earned runs for FSU. The third inning gave Colon struggles as he gave up three RBI singles but would later help the Rams tie the game in the bottom half of the third with an RBI double.
The game would remain tied until the top of the fifth, when Brandeis scored four runs and would never look back. The big inning was highlighted by a two-run single by rookie CF Liam O'Connor (Avon, Conn./Avon), part of his career-high-tying three RBI.
Brandeis belted out 13 hits on the day, two more than the Rams. Four of those hits belonged to sophomore 2B Tom McCarthy (Yonkers, N.Y./Fieldston School) who was 4-4 on the day - a new career high for hits - and also reached base on a walk.
Head Coach Pete Varney, in his 32nd season with the club, said his team was able to pick up the road win due to "timely hitting."
With the win, Brandeis improved to 7-13 on the season. Both Britton and Varney both said consistency needs to be the teams focus on the second half of the season.
"We need to take this win and use it going forward, we have a nice stretch of games coming up to hopefully pick up some wins," Britton said.
The Judges are back on the road tomorrow as they travel to UMass-Dartmouth before hosting Worcester State at home Monday in their third game in as many days.