WALTHAM, Mass. – The Brandeis University baseball team split a University Athletic Association doubleheader today, earning a series split with rivals NYU. The visiting Violets won the opener, 17-3, in seven inning, but the Judges bounced back to take game two, 8-6. Brandeis now stands at 12-7 overall, 3-5 in the UAA. NYU is 16-6 overall and 6-6 in the UAA.
In the opener, the Violets scored runs in five of their seven at-bats, batting around twice, as they took a 17-3 win. The visitors hit four home runs in the game, paced by 1B Nick Argenziano, who went deep twice. He hit a solo shot in the fourth inning and a three-run blast in the seventh to tie for team-high honors with four RBI. LF Connor Roggero also drove in four, going 2-4 with three runs scored and a homer run as well, a three-run shot in the third inning. DH Grant Berman also added a home run, driving in 3 runs as part of a 2-4 performance.
Brandeis had six hits, all from different players. Grad student CF Dan Frey (Ipswich, Mass./St. John's Prep) blasted a two-run home run in the third inning, his third of the season and the eighth of his career. Grad student 3B Victor Oppenheimer (Westhill, Calif./Chaminade) added an RBI single in the third.
NYU scored a run in the first inning and two more in the second before blowing things open with a seven-run third. They added another run in the fourth and then batted around for the second time with a six-run seventh inning.
Brandeis sophomore Asher Kaplan (Jamaica Plain, Mass./Boston Latin School) suffered the loss, falling to 1-1 on the season. He went five innings and gave up 11 hits and 11 runs, only five of which were earned. He struck out five and walked one, surrendering three home runs. NYU's Andrew Reid earned the win to improve to 1-1. He three six innings and struck out 10. He also walked five and allowed six hits, giving up three earned runs.
NYU jumped on top again in the third inning on back-to-back RBI doubles by Roggero and CF Ryan Carr that made it 2-0. The Judges took their first lead of the day in the bottom of the frame on a two-run double by grad student 1B Mike Khoury (E. Bridgewater, Mass./E. Bridgewater). Frey followed by driving home Khoury with an infield groundout to put Brandeis ahead, 3-2.
The Judges added a single run in the fourth on an RBI single by junior LF Sam Nugent (Mansfield, Mass./Mansfield). They increased the lead to 7-2 in the sixth on an RBI single by senior catcher Liam Kennedy (Norwell, Mass / Milton Academy) and a two-run single by grad student DH Luke Hall (Georgetown, Mass./Georgetown).
NYU responded with four runs in the top of the seventh on a run-scoring fielder's choice by Roggero, his six RBI of the day. The Violets completed a successful double steal to get within 7-4, then scored an RBI double by Carr and a single from catcher Grant Berman that made it 7-6. Berman tried to steal second to get into scoring position, but was thrown own by Kennedy to end the inning.
Brandeis got one run back in the bottom of the eighth on a solo home run by Oppenheimer, his second of the season and the sixth of his career. That closed out the scoring for the game at 8-6.
The Judges shut down NYU in the eighth and ninth, as junior Jakob Newman (Manhattan Beach, Calif. / Mira Costa) retired five of the seven batters he faced, three coming on strikeouts. Newman earned his second save of the season. Senior Cam Roberts (Leominster, Mass / Nashoba Regional) improved to 3-0 on the season with 5.1 innings of four-hit ball. He walked three and struck out one, allowing two earned runs. NYU's Ashwin Chona suffered the loss, falling to 2-2, after going 5.1 innings and allowing nine hits and seven runs (four earned), walking two and striking out two.
Offensively, the bottom four batters in the Brandeis lineup went 8-for-14 with two walks and six runs scored. Sophomore 2B Mike Dicenso (Cranston, R.I./Moses Brown) went 2-2 with two walks and three runs scored, while Oppenheimer was 2-4 with two runs scored and a home run. Khoury and Hall each finished with two RBI. NYU's top two of Roggero and Carr went 4-9 with three doubles, four RBI and three runs scored.
Brandeis returns to action on Wednesday afternoon at 4 p.m. with a non-conference contest against local rivals Lasell in the Battle of Stein Diamond.