CAMBRIDGE, Mass. (courtesy MIT sports information) – Sophomore catcher Erin Ross (Manalapan, N.J.) went a combined 4-for-7 with five RBI and two runs scored as Brandeis University defeated MIT 9-1 and 11-0 in Wednesday’s non-league doubleheader at Briggs Field. The Judges improved their season ledger
to 20-7-1, while the Engineers fell to 5-21. With the wins, the Judges secured their third-straight 20-win season, reaching the plateau faster than in any previous season in school history. They also extended their school-record winning streak to 14 games.

Ross produced all four of her hits during the first game. Her three-run double in a four-run seventh inning put the game away, after Brandeis entered the frame leading 5-1. She also singled in a run in the second as the Judges bolted to an early 3-0 lead.

MIT put a run on the board in the bottom of the second as Kaitlyn McCartney tripled to right field and scored on Cheryl Kwinn’s groundout to short. However, that’s all the Engineers could muster on the combined pitching effort of senior Kaitlin Streilein (Point Pleasant, N.J.) and sophomore Emily Vaillette (Milford, N.H.). Streilein (12-3) tossed six innings of five hit ball, while striking out seven and walking two, while Vaillette mopped
up with a scoreless frame of relief. Also contributing for Brandeis was senior Natalie Volpe (Southington, Conn.), who went 3-for-5 with two RBI. Volpe drove in both the first and last runs for the Judges. In the initial stanza, she singled in Ross, who doubled to left to start the rally. Then, in the seventh, she knocked in Ross again, after the latter struck with her three-run double.

The second game went just five innings as rookie 2B Melissa Cagar (Ridgewood, N.J.) went 3-for-4 with two RBI and two runs scored for the Judges. Ross, Streilein, and rookie CF Carly Schmand (Bethesda, Md.) also drove in runs as Brandeis scored seven runs combined in the fourth and fifth frames to break open a 4-0 game.

Volpe (5-1) got the win on the hill, allowing three hits in four innings of work, while striking out four and walking one.