BEVERLY, Mass. (taken from an Endicott press release) – Sophomore center fielder Liam O'Connor (Avon, Conn./Avon) went 3-for-4 with a two-run single, but the Brandeis baseball team couldn't overcome an 8-0 hole as they lost to Endicott College, ranked No. 27 in the most recent ABCA Division III poll. The Gulls are coached by Brian Haley, a 1999 Brandeis graduate.
The hosts got 7 1/3 innings on the mound from junior lefty Zach Poland (Essex Junction, Vt.) and two triples from sophomore outfielder Corbin Hyde (Lewiston, Maine) that brought home three runs.
Brandeis dropped to 7-11 (2- 6 UAA) with the loss and will pick up action on Thursday, April 3rd at Rhode Island College. The Judges were blanked over the first six innings until a sacrifice fly by senior Dominic Schwartz (San Francisco, Calif./Lowell) and later got a RBI single by junior Kyle Brenner (Brookfield, Mass./St. Peter Marian) and O'Connor's late run-scoring hit.
Endicott got to Brandeis starter Brian Ing (Sandwich, Mass./Sandwich) early in the contest, scoring two runs in the bottom of the first on a Tad Gold (Martha's Vineyard, Mass.) hit through the right side of the infield that scored freshman outfielder Cam Farnham (Andover, Mass.). The next batter, senior catcher EJ Martinez (Brooklyn, N.Y.), lined out to center to score Harry Oringer (Dartmouth, Mass.) to give the Blue and Green a 2-0 lead.
The bottom half of the second produced two more runs for Endicott after Hyde tripled to right center to plate freshman Mike Kochiss (Fairfield, Conn.) who had doubled to get into scoring position. Hyde would score on the next play on a RBI groundout by Farnham.
Judges sophomore James Machado (Dracut, Mass./Dracut) shut down Endicott over the next two frames until the bottom of the fifth as the Gulls put up four more runs with two outs to take a 8-0 lead. Matthew Paola(Middlebury, Conn.) plated two on a single through the infield, Michael Cahill (Plymouth, Mass.) drove a ball up the middle to score the third runner of the inning, and Kochiss knocked in his lone RBI on a hard hit ball to third that brought Paola home 90 feet.
Brandeis got one run back in the seventh on Schwartz' sacrifice fly, but Endicott took the run back in the bottom half of the frame on Hyde's second triple to deep center to score sophomore catcher Josh Drew (Intervale, N.H.). Drew had reached on a leadoff, pinch-hit walk.
Brandeis put up their two final runs in the top of the eighth on RBI singles from Brenner and O'Connor and threated to add more in the top of the ninth, but Gulls sophomore Nick Quattro (Canton, Conn.) escaped a jam with two runners on with a strikeout to end the game.
Oringer finished the game 2-for-3 with a walk and two runs scored and Kochiss recorded two hits in four trips to the plate with a run and a RBI.