NORTH DARTMOUTH, MA (taken from a UMD press release) -Brandeis took an early lead and held off a late rally, going on to defeat the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth’s baseball team, 12-9, in a non-conference game at the UMass Dartmouth Athletic Complex Sunday afternoon.

The Judges held a 1-0 lead when UMD sophomore left fielder Dylan Zygmont (Swansea, MA) erased it with a two-run homer over the left center field fence.

Brandeis came back for four runs in the top of the third on run-scoring singles by senior SS Zach Golden (Milton, Mass.), junior DH Jon Winston (Nanuet, N.Y.), and junior LF Jeff Bourdon (No. Adams, Mass.), and an infield out. RBI singles by junior RF Ben Dashefsky (Massapequa, N.Y.) and sophomore 3B Malcolm Cone-Coleman (Portland, Maine) and an infield out accounted for three more Brandeis runs and made it 8-2 in the fifth.

Freshman second baseman Peter Gomez (Bridgewater, MA/Bridgewater-Raynham HS) hit a three-run homer over the left center field fence to cut the Judges’ lead in half in the bottom of the sixth.

Senior CF Chris Navis (Walpole, Mass.) homered, his second of the season, Golden tripled and Winston doubled to produce three more Brandeis runs in the top of the eighth. The Corsairs came right back and scored twice in the bottom half of the inning. Junior Mike Maclean (Spencer, MA) pinch-hit and walked, and freshman Sean Smolinsky (Hull, MA) followed with a pinch-hit single. Gomez singled home one run, and junior first baseman Dan Mancini (Marlboro, MA) singled home another.

Golden doubled home another run in the ninth for Brandeis. The Corsairs came back to score twice in the bottom of the ninth on run-scoring infield outs by junior catcher Mike Noce (Sudbury, MA) and junior outfielder Evan Britto (Rochester, MA). But Brandeis’ fifth pitcher, rookie James Collins (So. Boston, Mass.), retired Gomez on a grounder for the final out.

Brandeis starter Craig Letendre (New Bedford, MA) earned the victory, allowing five runs in six innings and improving to 1-1. Corsair starter Parker Harrington (Sr. Weymouth, MA) took the loss and fell to 0-2.

UMass Dartmouth dropped to 4-11 with the defeat, while Brandeis improved to 9-5.