BUZZARDS BAY, Mass. (courtesy Mass Maritime sports info) -- The fifth-seeded Brandeis University basesball team scored runs early and late, but couldn't hold off fourth-seeded Mass. Maritime Academy in the quarterfinals of the 2016 ECAC Division III New England tournament today. The Buccaneers took an 8-6 victory at Commodore Hendy Field to improve to 24-15 overall. They advance to face top-seeded and host MIT (21-14) in semifinal round play on Saturday morning at Briggs Field in Cambridge, Mass. The visiting Judges finish the season at 19-17-1 overall with today's setback.
Brandeis jumped out to a 2-0 first inning advantage, as two-out singles by seniors Greg Heineman (Wilbraham, Mass./Minnechaug Regional) and Ryan Healy (Carlsbad, Calif./La Costa Canyon) were followed by a two-run double off the bat of sophomore Luke Zeccola (Garden City, N.Y./Chaminade).
Massachusetts Maritime got a run back in the bottom of the second when junior Jake Petruzzelli(Abington, Mass.) singled and scored on a two-out infield hit by freshman Riley Fusaro (Nantucket, Mass.), and the Buccaneers evened matters in the third when Connor Kennedy singled and scored on a double-play ball. The hosts took the lead for good with a three-run rally in the bottom of the fourth, as senior Greg Downs (Marshfield, Mass.) led off the frame with a double and scored on Connor Kennedy's two-out single. Back-to-back doubles off the bats of senior Everett Walsh (Marstons Mills, Mass.) and sophomore Logan Sullo (Acushnet, Mass.) extended Massachusetts Maritime's edge to 5-2 in the inning.
That score held up until the top of the seventh when senior Max Hart (Montville, Conn./Montville) singled, advanced on a wild pitch and scored on senior Liam O'Connor's (Avon, Conn./Avon) RBI single that closed the Judges' deficit to 5-3.
Massachusetts Maritime plated three key insurance runs in the bottom of the eighth, as the hosts loaded the bases with no outs and grabbed a 7-3 lead on Connor Kennedy's fielder's choice grounder and an error. A balk enabled sophomore Billy Keane (Braintree, Mass.) to extend the Buccaneer advantage to 8-3.
Those runs loomed large in the ninth, as Brandeis pulled back to within two with two outs in the frame on Heineman's RBI double and a two-run homer off the bat of Healy (his third of the season). That was as close as the visitors would come, however, as senior Kyle Kennedy (Woodbury, Conn.) struck out Zeccola to end the game and send Massachusetts Maritime to its second straight ECAC New England semifinal appearance.
Sullo, Downs, Fusaro and Keane each had two hits as part of a 14-hit attack for the Buccaneers in support of senior Kevin Kwedor (Marshfield, Mass.), who allowed three runs and struck out seven while throwing 76 of his 109 pitches for strikes over seven innings of work to improve to 5-1 on the season. Kyle Kennedy worked around four hits and a walk to record four strikeouts and earn his fifth save of the spring for Massachusetts Maritime, which has now recorded the third highest single-season win total in school history.
Healy and Zeccola each recorded two hits and drove in a pair of runs in the setback for Brandeis, which also received two hits each from O'Connor, Heineman, Hart and juniorJay Schaff (Cheshire, Conn./Xavier) as part of a 14-hit attack. Senior Sam Miller (Sudbury, Mass./Lincoln-Sudbury) allowed four earned runs and struck out four over 6 1/3 frames for the Judges, as he threw 55 of his 86 pitches for strikes to end the season at 6-6 overall.
The win was the first for Massachusetts Maritime over Brandeis since a 3-2 triumph during the 1986 season, as the two teams were meeting for the first time since the 1990 campaign this afternoon. The Buccaneer triumph was just their third in 14 series meetings with the Judges dating back to 1976.
The other ECAC New England semifinal round match-up will see sixth-seeded Elms (32-12) visiting second-seeded WPI (26-13) on Friday afternoon at the New England Baseball Complex in Northboro, Mass. beginning at 1:00 p.m. The two semifinal winners will meet for the ECAC New England title on Sunday morning at MIT's Briggs Field in Cambridge, Mass. beginning at Noon.