SANFORD, Fla. - The Washington University baseball team sent nine men to the plate and scored six runs as the Bears defeated Brandeis, 8-6, in a University Athletic Association contest. The win was WashU's first in UAA play, as they moved to 4-5, 1-3 UAA, while Brandeis fell to 4-5, 2-2 UAA.
The Judges jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the third inning, as rookie CF Sean O'Hare (Southampton, Mass./Hampshire Regional) singled, moved to second on a wild pitch and came home on a base hit by sophomore 3B Tony Deshler (Pepperell, Mass./Lawrence Acad.). The Bears responded in the top of the fourth with six runs, five of which were unearned. After a lead-off walk and a strike-out, an error at shortstop put runners on first and second. WashU got the equalizer on an RBI single by sophomore 1B Matt Bayer (Massapequa, N.Y./Massapequa), and Brandeis sophomore Justin Duncombe (Canyon Country, Calif./Canyon) got another strikeout, which should have been the third out. Unfortunately, the Bears got two more singles to pack the sacks, including an RBI from senior RF Zander Lehman (San Francisco, Calif./San Francisco Univ.). Bear junior 2B Joe Wenzel (St. Louis, Mo./Parkway South) unloaded the bases to give WashU a 6-1 lead.
Brandeis got two runs back in the bottom of the frame on an RBI grounder by rookie SS Joe Correia (Belleville, N.J./Montclair Kimberly Acad.) and a Washington error, but they left two runners on base. The Bears tacked on another unearned run on an RBI double by Bayer in the seventh, while both teams scored without a hit in the bottom of the seventh and top of the eighth, respectively, making it an 8-4 game. A second Deshler RBI single in the eighth made the lead 8-5. Brandeis senior Jonah Mandell (New York, N.Y./Friends Seminary) stranded two WashU runners in the top of the ninth, and sophomore DH Pat Nicholson (E. Walpole, Mass./Walpole) plated a run in the bottom of the ninth, but the Judges stranded two of their own to end the game at 8-6.
Deshler was the offensive star for the Judges, going 3-5 with two RBI. O'Hare, Nicholson and sophomore catcher Zach Wooley (Argyle, Texas/Jesuit College Prep) all had two hits on the day, but Brandeis had no extra-base hits and stranded 12 runners. Duncombe suffered the loss, giving up 11 hits and seven runs (one earned) in 6.1 innings of action. He struck out four and walked two.