Baseball suffers heartbreak in first-ever on-campus UAA games at Case

CLEVELAND, Ohio – The Brandeis University baseball team played its first-ever on-campus University Athletic Association contests today at Nobby's Field at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland. The Judges dropped a heartbreaker in the opening game, falling 8-7 in 10 innings, before suffering a 10-0 defeat in seven frames in the second game.

HOW IT HAPPENED – GAME ONE (7-8, 10 innings)

• The Judges trailed 4-0 after five innings as the Spartans scored two runs in both the fourth and fifth innings, but only one of the first four runs allowed by junior starter Sean O'Neill (Reading, Mass./Reading Memorial) were earned.
• Brandeis exploded for six runs in the top of the sixth inning, when they sent 11 men to the plate.
• Sophomore 3B Kyle Lussier (Hingham, Mass./Hingham) got the scoring started with an RBI double down the left field line.
• Two batters later, rookie RF Dan O'Leary (Lynnfield, Mass./Lynnfield) also hit a two-bagger down the line in left, driving in two runs to cut the lead to 4-3.
• Senior CF Ryan Tettemer (Westfield, Mass./Suffield Acad.) tied the game with single to right field.
• After CWRU starter Mark Gross issued a walk, he was pulled in favor of reliever Corey Brown, who induced a grounder to first that resulted in a force at the plate.
• Rookie LF Tim Lopez (Brooklyn, N.Y./East Side Community) followed and came up big with his second hit of the inning, a double to left-center that put the Judges ahead, 6-4.
• In the bottom of the frame, Case Western Reserve got a leadoff triple from Dan Watson and an error at third base to put runners on the corners with none out against O'Neill. A wild pitch cut the lead to 6-5 and put the tying run on second.
• O'Neill got a grounder to short and the Judges cut down the lead runner at third for the first out, but Jacob Kucia went on to steal second. O'Neill recorded the second out by strikeout, but the Spartans' Eric Eldred singled up the middle to knot the score at 6-6.
• Between the seventh and ninth innings, both teams' relievers held, with each squad gunning down an attempted stolen base.
• In the top of the 10^th, rookie 2B Victor Oppenheimer (West Hills, Calif./Chaminade) worked a leadoff walk. O'Leary bunted him to second and rookie Kyle Slevira (Manchester, N.H./Hopkinton) got a grounder to the right side getting Oppenheimer to third. Tettemer followed with a single to right putting the Judges on top.
• In the bottom of the frame, senior Liam Coughlin (Townsend, Mass./Lowell Catholic) nearly got out of a jam of his own making.
• After walking the leadoff hitter and throwing wild on the ensuing bunt to put the tying and winning runs in scoring position, Coughlin got a strikeout for the first out of the inning.
• Coughlin issued an intentional walk to load the bases, then induced a grounder to short.
• Unfortunately, the Judges were unable to turn the double play, and all the runners were safe, tying the game at 7-7 and leaving the bases loaded.
• Another free pass followed, giving Case Western Reserve the walk-off victory.

HOW IT HAPPENED – GAME TWO (0-10, 7 innings)

• In the second contest, Case Western Reserve took advantage of the UAA's 10-run rule to defeat the Judges in seven innings.
• Spartan starter Ben Murphy improved to 4-0 on the season by holding the Judges to two hits over the first six innings. He struck out three and did not walk any.
• Meanwhile, the home team tagged Brandeis rookie Brandon Musto (Milton, Mass./Milton) for 10 runs on nine hits over the first 4.2 innings.
• The Spartans scored four times in the first inning and never looked back. Jacob Kucia had the first of two triples in the inning.
• The hosts had six extra-base hits among their 10 hits, including two doubles, three triples and a home run by Eric Eldred.
• Brandeis's three hits came from Tettemer, who singled in the second; Oppenheimer, who doubled in the fourth; and senior Anthony Nomakeo (Westfield, Mass./Northfield Mount Hermon) who had a pinch single in the seventh.

UP NEXT

• The two squad will continue their series tomorrow at 9 a.m. with two more nine-inning games.