WALTHAM, Mass. – The Brandeis University baseball team earned a doubleheader split with visiting Suffolk University on Senior Day today. The Judges won Game 1, 10-5, but the Rams came back to take Game 2, 8-7. The Judges move to 18-15 on the season, while the Rams are now 20-18.
In the opener, Brandeis put up crooked numbers in four of their six at-bats to defeat the Rams. Brandeis scored three runs in the first inning and three more in the fourth, then tallied two each in the fifth and sixth frames. Graduate student catcher Luke Hall (Georgetown, Mass./Georgetown) paced the Judge offense by going 4-for-4 with three doubles and three RBI, plating runs in the first, fourth and sixth innings. Junior SS Drew Michaud (Madison, Conn / Xavier) added a two-run home run in the fifth inning, his second of the season and the fourth of his career. He also had a double in the game and was involved in two double players. Grad student DH Brian Garcia (Miami, Fla./Immaculate-LaSalle) and junior LF Sam Nugent (Mansfield, Mass. / Mansfield) each had two hits, while grad student RF Mike Khoury (E. Bridgewater, Mass./E. Bridgewater) had a walk and a double, scoring two runs.
Brandeis graduate student Brandon Musto (Milton, Mass./Milton) earned the win on the hill to improve to 3-3 on the season. He went five innings and allowed nine hits and three runs, striking out three and walking one. Junior Jakob Newman (Manhattan Beach, Calif./Mira Costa) threw the last two innings, allowing five hits and two earned runs.
Suffolk outhit the Judges, 14-13, but the Rams couldn't convert all their chances, leaving 10 runners on base. DH Harry Painter was 3-4 with a double, an RBI and a run scored. RF Luke Harder also had three hits in the game. Starter Casey Sullivan shouldered the loss, allowing nine hits and six earned runs in four innings of work. He falls to 1-2 on the season.
In Game 2, Brandeis led 7-3 after four innings, but the Rams scored five unanswered runs against the Judge bullpen to escape with the 8-7 win. Suffolk opened the scoring in the first inning on a two-run home run by Painter. Brandeis scored the next five runs, with a ground out by Hall in the first opening their scoring. Senior 1B Cam Roberts (Leominster, Mass / Nashoba Regional) drove in his first collegiate run in the second, and Nugent followed with an RBI double that put the home team in front.
Brandeis took a 5-2 lead on a home run by grad student CF Dan Frey (Ipswich, Mass./St. John's Prep), a two-run shot to right in the third. It was Frey's seventh home run of the season and the 12th of his career. It also gave him 47 RBI on the season, most in the University Athletic Association and the fourth-highest single-season total in Brandeis history.
Suffolk got one run back with Painter's second homer of the game in the fourth, but Brandeis answered when Roberts lined a ball to right field that cleared the fence just inside the foul pole for his first career home run. The Judges scored their final run on a wild pitch in the fourth, but couldn't cross the plate again. The Rams clawed back into the game with two runs each in the fifth and sixth innings, tying the game in the sixth with a bases-loaded walk by 2B Garret Roberts and a sacrifice fly by Christian Seariac.
The visitors took the lead in the top of the seventh. After the leadoff hitter singled, Brandeis turned a double play, but an error to the next batter put a runner on second with two away. Suffolk catcher Dylan January then lined a ball to center that Frey initially broke in on. He then reversed direction and almost made the catch, but it just eluded him, allowing the go-ahead run to scored.
Frey drew a one-out walk in the Judges' half of the seventh. He moved to second on a wild pitch, but a hard-hit ball by junior 3B Brian King (Palos Verde, Calif./Palos Verde) was snagged at third base, and grad student Victor Oppenheimer's (West Hills, Calif./Chaminade) flare to right was caught by a diving Luke Harder to end the game.
Brandeis will close out its 2022 season on Tuesday evening at 7 p.m. against WPI. Before today's games, the Judges honored their seniors and graduate students.