BRIDGEWATER, Mass. (courtesy BSU sports information)-- The visiting Brandeis University baseball team posted an 8-2 victory over Bridgewater State University in non-conference action on Wednesday afternoon at Alumni Park. The Judges improve to 4-16 on the season, while the host Bears fall to 8-16.
Rookie Albert Gutierrez (Miami, Fla./Belen Jesuit Prep) got the start on the mound for the visitors and picked up his first collegiate win. Gutierrez (1-1) allowed just one run on four hits over five innings. He fanned one and did not issue a walk.
Three Brandeis relievers combined to work the final four innings to close out the victory.
Rookie 1B Joshua Rakowsky (New Fairfield, Conn./New Fairfield) went 3-for-5 with a double, a run and an RBI to pace the Judges' ten-hit attack.
Greg Cavaioli (Leominster, Mass.) picked up the loss for the Bears despite pitching effectively over five innings. Cavaiolo (0-2) gave up three runs (one earned) on three hits with two walks and three strikeouts.
Brandeis pushed across a pair of runs in the top of the third inning. The Judges loaded the bases with nobody out on a single and a pair of walks. A double play ground out plated Rakowksi, who singled to open the frame, with the first run of the game. An infield error allowed rookie DH Frank Rybicki (Sudbury, Mass./Portsmouth Abbey) to score for the 2-0 lead.
The Bears got one back in the bottom of the fifth. Matt Cassese (Taunton, Mass.) singled with one out, moved to second on a base hit up the middle by Reed Pike (Bellingham, Mass.) and to third when the center fielder bobbled the ball. Cassese would later score on a wild pitch.
The Judges extended their lead to 3-1 in the sixth with an unearned run as senior CF Ryan Tettemer (Westfield, Mass./Suffield Acad.) singled to start the inning. Tettemer was then picked off on an attempted stolen base, but was safe at second when the shortstop dropped the throw from first. He would score moments later on back-to-back wild pitches.
Senior SS Jay Schaff (Cheshire, Conn./Xavier) singled and scored all the way from first on a double to deep left off the bat of Rakowsky to make it a 4-1 game in the seventh.
Brandeis added two more runs in the eighth as rookie 2B Victor Oppenheimer (West Hills, Calif./Chaminade) reached on a bunt single and advanced all the way to third when the third baseman threw the ball away. Oppenheimer would race home one batter later on senior RF Anthony Nomakeo's (Westfield, Mass./Northfield Mount Hermon) sacrifice fly. Three singles and a bases loaded walk issued to rookie LF Shea Nugent (Nahant, Mass./Tilton School) gave the Judges a 6-1 lead.
Brandeis tacked on two more runs in the ninth to make it 8-1. Oppenheimer reached on an error with one out and Nomakeo followed with a double. Both runners would cross the plate later in the frame on wild pitches.
The Bears rounded out the scoring in the bottom of the ninth. Back-to-back two-out singles by Ryan Kelleher (Danvers, Mass.) and Tyler Morini (Plymouth, Mass.) out runners at first and second. Chandler Furtado (Somerset, Mass.) then reached on a throwing error allowing Kelleher to score all the way from second. Kelleher (2-for-5), Morini (2-for-5), Billy Mitchell (Walpole, Mass.) and Pike (2-for-4) each finished with multiple hits for the Bears. Mitchell went 2-for-3 after entering the game in the fifth inning.
The BSU bullpen allowed five runs (four earned) on seven hits and three walks over four innings .
Brandeis kicks off a four-game University Athletic Association series with Washington University on Friday afternoon at 3 p.m.