AUBURNDALE, Fla. – The Brandeis baseball team suffered a three-game sweep at the hands of Augustana (Ill.) today, as the Judges were on the wrong end of a 6-0 shutout as part of the Russ Matt Invitational in Florida. Brandeis drops to 1-4 with the loss, while the Vikings improve to 3-0.

Brandeis starter Colin Markel (Scarsdale, N.Y./Scarsdale) was effective in his second start of the season, allowing just two runs on five hits over 6.1 innings. He did walk two and hit two batters, but both of his runs came inning with only one hit. The Vikings scored lone runs off of Markel in the first and third innings before striking for four runs against the Brandeis bullpen in the seventh and eighth. That was enough for AC pitcher Ben Heaton, who scattered seven hits over seven innings of work. He struck out seven and walked just one.

Offensively, Brandeis saw six different players with hits, with rookie 3B Dave Maher (Beverly, Mass./St. Johns Prep) the only multiple hitter. Junior catcher Dan Gad (Mansfield, Mass./Mansfield) had the only extra-base hit, a double in the first inning. Gad's two-bagger saw three straight runners reach base for the Judges, but AC cut down a potential run at the plate to end the inning. Brandeis also had runners in scoring position in the second, fifth and seventh, but each time, Heaton got key strikeouts to escape trouble

Brandeis will close out their February trip to Florida on Sunday against RIT at 1 p.m.