MEDFORD, Mass. – The Brandeis University baseball team finished up their home-and-home series against the Tufts University Jumbos today, dropping the game 12-3. The Judges' record falls to 17-14 on the season, while the Jumbos' record improves to 23-10 on the season.

The Jumbos broke the 0-0 tie in the bottom of the third with an RBI sacrifice fly from second baseman Kyle Cortese. The very next batter, left fielder Ben Leonard knocked a two-run home run to give his team a 3-0 lead. The Judges responded in the top of the fourth on a 2-RBI single off the bat of junior third baseman Brian King (Palos Verde, Calif. / Palos Verde), scoring graduate students Dan Frey (Ipswich, Mass. / St. John's Prep) and Luke Hall (Georgetown, Mass. / Georgetown). The Jumbos came out hot in the bottom of the inning with a two-run home run from right fielder Jimmy Evans, followed up by an RBI single from shortstop Nick Bozzella and Cortese's second RBI sacrifice fly of the day. The fifth inning was more of the same from the Jumbos, getting an RBI double from Evans and an RBI single from third baseman Peter Solomon. The Judges scored again in the top of the 6th inning with an RBI groundout from graduate second baseman Victor Oppenheimer (West Hills, Calif. / Chaminade), scoring graduate right fielder Mike Khoury (E. Bridgewater, Mass. / E. Bridgewater). The Jumbos scored three more runs in the game from an RBI single from center fielder Miles Reid in the sixth and a two-run home run from first baseman Peter DeMaria in the eighth.

For the Judges, graduate pitcher Mason Newman (New Rochelle, N.Y. / New Rochelle) took the loss on the day, taking his record to 3-4 on the year. Newman pitched five innings, giving up 11 hits, nine earned runs, and two strikeouts. Newman was replaced by sophomore reliever Sean Decker-Jacoby (Los Angeles, Calif. / Vistimar) to start the sixth inning. Decker-Jacoby finished the game, giving up five hits, three earned runs, two walks, and three strikeouts. For the Jumbos, reliever Brendan McFall took the win on the day, improving his record to 3-1 on the year. Starter Tommy Leone pitched two innings, giving up two hits and two strikeouts before being replaced by McFall who pitched four innings, giving up two hits, three earned runs, three walks, and two strikeouts. Connor Podeszwa came in for McFall to start the seventh. Podeszwa pitched two innings, giving up two hits and three strikeouts. Steven Landry closed out the game in the ninth for the Jumbos, giving up 0 hits with one strikeout.

The Judges return to action tomorrow at home on Stein Diamond with a doubleheader against the Suffolk University Rams. The first game starts at 12 pm after the Judges celebrate Senior Day starting around 11:45.

-- by Benton Ferebee '22