MEDFORD, Mass. (taken from a Tufts University press release) - Brandeis University junior Kyle Brenner (Brookfield, Mass./St. Peter-Marian) went the distance, giving up just one earned run, but his couldn't help pull off an upset today, as the Judges lost to 24th-ranked Tufts University, 2-1, in non-conference baseball action on Huskins Field.
Brenner, who threw his third complete game of the season and the 10th of his career, dropped to 2-2. He allowed just seven hits and one earned run in eight innings of work. He walked two and struck out four. Brandeis dropped to 7-10 with the loss.
Jumbos' junior 3B Wade Hauser had two runs batted in and freshman 2B Tom Petry scored twice for the home team, who improved to 13-1 on the season.
The Jumbos struck first after Petry led off the third with a single to center. He stole second, was sacrificed to third by junior LF Nick Barker and then came home on a ground ball to short by Hauser.
Brandeis had four hits and a walk in three innings against Tufts starter Christian Sbily, but did not score. A double play in the second and a pick-off at second base in the third helped the Jumbo cause.
Sbily was lifted after a walk to lead off the fourth and freshman Speros Varinos came on and retired the side. Varinos gave up back-to-back singles by junior SS Brian Allen (Concord, N.H./Catholic Memorial) and freshman LF Ryan Tettemer (Westfield, Mass./Suffield Acad.) with one out in the fifth, but got the next two outs to squelch the threat.
The Jumbos extended their lead to 2-0 with an unearned run in the bottom of the fifth. Petry reached on an error, was sacrificed to second by junior CF Connor McDavitt, moved to third on Barker's single and crossed the plate on another single by Hauser.
After a 1-2-3 sixth, Brandeis cut the lead in half with a run off Speros in the seventh. Sopomore CF Liam O'Connor (Avon, Conn./Avon) led off with a single to center, stole second and scored on a two-out single by Tettemer.
With Brenner blanking Tufts in the seventh through ninth, Brandeis couuld not get the equalizer. They started the eighth with a walk, but the runner was picked off. Jumbo hurlers Willie Archibald and Tim Superko closed it out, with Superko earning his second save.
Varinos got the win for Tufts, the first of his college career, allowing four hits and the one run with five strikeouts and no walks in four innings. McDavitt was 2 for 2 at the top of the Tufts order. With his two rbis, Hauser now has 14 in 14 games for Tufts.
Tettemer, who came off the bench in the third, finished 2 for 2 for the Judges. O'Connor was 2 for 4 as Brandeis out-hit Tufts 8-7.
The Judges continue a five-game road trip tomorrow at 27th-ranked Endicott College at 3 p.m. They are slated for their home opener this Sunday, April 6, at 12 noon against Framingham State.