WHITTIER, Calif. – The Brandeis University got significant contributions from its first-year class as well as a couple of familiar faces today as the Judges split their first two games of the 2023 season at Whittier College in California. Brandeis won the opener, 8-2, but the Poets took Game 2, 6-2.

TEAM RECORDS

• Brandeis: 1-1.
• Whittier: 4-2.

HOW IT HAPPENED, GAME 1

• Brandeis scored four runs on just two hits in the top of the first inning. The Judges drew a pair of walks and made a pair of outs to put runners on first and second with two away. First-year 1B Maddie Manes (San Clemente, Calif / San Juan Hills) singled to center to break the ice, with a second run scoring on an error by the Whittier centerfielder.
• The next batter was first-year Bells Burdenski (San Diego, Calif. / Rancho Bernardo), who drove the ball over the fence in left-center for a two-run homer in her first collegiate at-bat, putting Brandeis ahead, 4-0.
• In the bottom of the first, rookie Ragini Kannan (Westford, Mass./Westford Academy) got off to a bit of a shaky start, allowing home runs to the first two Poets she faced.
• Kannan settled down beautifully after that. She did not allow another Whittier hit, as the Poets had just four base-runners the rest of the way. Kannan struck out seven, walked one and hit two batters, with one more reaching on an error.
• Brandeis opened things up with a pair of two-run innings in the fifth and sixth. Junior 3B Haley Nash (Delmar, N.Y. / Bethlehem Central) singled home a pair of runs in the fifth. In the sixth, rookie LF Erin Hunt (Wake Forest, N.C. / Franklin Academy) drew a bases-loaded walk, and sophomore SS Anna Kolb (Alexandria, Va. / Thomas A. Edison) plated a run with a single to close out the scoring.

HOW IT HAPPENED, GAME 2

• Brandeis opened the scoring in the top of the first on an RBI single by first-year 2B Elle Ehrlich (Falls Church, Va / Meridian) with two outs.
• Whittier used the long ball in the second to take the lead for good, hitting a solo shot and a two-run blast off junior starter Alex Cohen (West Palm Beach, Fla. / The Benjamin School) to go ahead 3-1.
• The Poets added two unearned runs in the third, but the Judges threw out a runner on the bases to avoid further damage. WC added their sixth run in the fourth inning.
• Brandeis got one run back in the fifth on a sacrifice fly by Cohen after a lead-off double by Kolb. Nash followed with a two-out triple, but the Judges could not get her home. The Poets retired the final six batters to secure the split

INSIDE THE BOX SCORES

• Nash and Kolb were the Judges' top performers at the plate, each going 3-for-6. Kolb had a double and scored four runs, while Nash tripled and drove in two.
• Burdenski's home run was the team's only other extra-base hit and she was the only other player with multiple RBI, as rookies accounted for five of the team's nine RBI.
• Kannan earned her first collegiate win in the opener, tossing a complete game. Cohen suffered the loss in game two.

UP NEXT

The Judges are scheduled to play two more games in California on Saturday at Pomona-Pitzer starting at 12 p.m. Pacific/3 p.m. Eastern