HARTFORD, Conn. – The Brandeis baseball team lost a pair of one-run games yesterday, as the Trinity College Bantams walked off with a pair of come-from-behind victories. The Judges fell to 13-19, while the Bantams improved to 15-16. The score was 3-2 in Game 1 and 4-3 in the nightcap.
In the first contest, Brandeis opened the scoring with an unearned run in the second. Junior Kyle Brenner (Brookfield, Mass./St. Peter-Marian) reached on a Bantam error and scored on a sacrifice fly by sophomore catcher Connor Doyle (Avon, Conn./Avon Old Farms).
That looked to be all the scoring the Judges would need, but Trinity tied things up in its final at bat. In the bottom of the seventh inning (the teams were slated to play two seven-inning games), the Bantams got an unearned run of their own. Catcher Chris Leach reached on an error, and 2B Connor Sullivan singled him home to force extra frames.
Brandeis pulled back in front in the eighth. Rookie right fielder Ryan Tettemer (Westfield, Mass./Suffield Acad.) singled and stole second base, and senior left fielder Brian Ing (Sandwich, Mass./Sandwich) doubled him home. Trinity again battled back though, as 1B Brian Wolfe blasted a two-out solo shot to left.
Both teams put runners in scoring position in the ninth, but neither could push across a run. After a 1-2-3 top of the 10th, the Bantams won it in the bottom of the inning. 3B Daniel Pidgeon led off with a single, and with two outs, stole second base. After a single by DH Dana Colton moved him to third, Sullivan singled through the hole, his fourth hit of the game.
Brenner earned the loss, falling to 4-5 on the season, but improving his ERA to 2.98. It was his seventh complete game of the season, more than twice as many as anyone else in the University Athletic Association (UAA), but he is just 2-5 in those contests. It was the second time this season that Brenner went more than nine innings in a game.
Peter Burrows started for Trinity, allowing two runs, one earned, in 8.1 innings of work. David O'Brien earned the win, as he came on and retired the last five Brandeis batters in order.
Trinity struck first in the second contest, as Sullivan roped an RBI double in the second inning. Brandeis quickly responded, scoring three times in the fourth. Sophomore third baseman Greg Heineman (Wilbraham, Mass./Minnechaug Reg.) got the rally started with a one-out single, and junior DH Tom McCarthy (Yonkers, N.Y./Fieldston School) followed with a single of his own. Brenner was next, and he tied things up with a double, scoring Heineman. Senior 2B Dominic Schwartz (San Francisco, Calif./Lowell) singled home McCarthy, and Doyle hit a sacrifice fly to give the Judges a 3-1 edge.
Brandeis senior Colin Markel (Scarsdale, N.Y./Scarsdale) pitched superbly, holding Trinity until the sixth inning. But with two outs, DH Matt Mortimer tied things up with a two-run double, scoring Pidgeon and center fielder Scott Huley.
The Judges loaded the bases in the seventh but couldn't push across a run, setting the stage for more Bantam heroics. Brandeis rookie Liam Coughlin (Townsend, Mass./Lowell Catholic) came on for the seventh and was the victim of two errors. Sullivan reached on a miscue to lead off the frame. A single moved pinch runner Dylan Callahan to second base, and another error loaded the bases. Right fielder Nicholas Pezzella then singled to right to score the winning run.
Coughlin took the loss, falling to 0-2. Ryan Carr went the distance for the hosts and improved to 3-2.
The Judges' home finale will be tomorrow afternoon against WPI. The team will honor its four graduating seniors, Dan Gad (Mansfield, Mass. / Mansfield), Ing, Markel and Schwartz, in a ceremony before the game. Brandeis closes out its season at UMass-Dartmouth on Wednesday.