WORCESTER, Mass. (courtesy Worcester State sports information) --- Rookie Adam Barry (Auburn, Mass./Holy Name) collected a pair of hits including a his first collegiate homerun to go with three RBI's to help lead Worcester State past Brandeis, 9-4, in non-conference baseball action this afternoon at the Lyons Baseball Diamond.
With the win the Lancers even their record at 10-10 while the Judges fall to 10-13 with the setback.
Barry started the scoring for the Blue and Gold when he belted a one-out, two-run homer high over the right field fence before three straight singles led to another score for the hosts. Junior Cody Osburn (Fair Oaks, Calif./Gilmour Academy) crossed home when sophomore Dennis Duplessis (Marlboro, Mass./Marlboro) sent a hard groundball up the middle for the 3-0 advantage after the opening inning.
Brandeis collected a run of their own in the top half of the second when senior Dominic Schwartz (San Francisco, Calif./Lowell) knocked in junior Kyle Brenner (Brookfield, Mass./St. Peter-Marian), who had doubled one batter earlier, to make it 3-1.
The Lancers tacked on three more runs in the bottom half of the inning with one swing of the bat from junior Jeff Bolio (Oxford, Mass./Oxford) who blasted his first homer of the season deep to centerfield for the 6-1 advantage.
The Blue and Gold tacked on another score in the bottom half of the fourth when Bolio hit an RBI ground out with the bases loaded for the 7-1 lead.
The Judges answered that score with one of their own in the top of the fifth when Brenner scampered home on a wild pitch to make the score 7-2.
Brandeis cut into the deficit even more in the top of the eighth inning with a pair of runs.
Sophomore Greg Heineman (Wilbraham, Mass./Minnechaug Reg.) laced an RBI double to right center with runners on the corners and junior Tom McCarthy (Yonkers, N.Y./Fieldston School) was heads-up and came home on a throwing error to cut the lead to 7-4.
Worcester State responded again with a pair of insurance runs in the bottom half of the frame on an RBI single by Barry and an RBI base knock from senior pinch-hitter Joe Carlier (Rockland, Mass./Rockland) for the final score.
Junior classmates David Ruggiero (Peabody, Mass./Bishop Fenwick) and Nick Gikas (Danvers, Mass./Danvers) joined Barry with multiple hits as they each went 2-for-4 on the day and combined to score three times while Bolio finished with four runs batted in.
Heineman, Brenner, Schwartz, and sophomore Max Hart (Montville, Conn./Montville) each collected a pair of hits for the Judges while Heineman and Brenner produced their only extra base hits with a double apiece.
Junior right-hander Jared Kuzio (Franklin, Mass./Franklin) picked up the win to improve to 1-2 on the year after eight innings of work, surrendering four runs (three earned) on nine hits with four strikeouts and one walk.
Brandeis senior Colin Markel (Scarsdale, N.Y./Scarsdale) fell to 1-3 on the season with the loss. Markel pitched the first three innings giving up six earned runs on seven hits without striking out or walking a batter.
Worcester State has a quick turn-around as they host WPI tomorrow at 3:30 p.m. while Brandeis returns home to face-off with Western New England Thursday at 3 p.m.