The men’s baseball team has been unable to notch any wins lately, as it has only faced one team in the past few weeks, the Worcester Polytechnic Institute Engineers, to whom it lost 4-1.

Judges 1, WPI 4

In Northboro, Massachusetts on March 24, the Judges took on the Engineers at the New England Baseball Complex, where both teams’ pitching managed to excel. Both sides displayed solid and noteworhty offensive performances, as well.

Brandeis’ Sean O’Neal ’18, who pitched for the Judges for the first seven innings, had a dominant outing, as he struck out thirteen of WPI’s batters. This was the most strikeouts by a pitcher since 2014, when then-junior Kyle Brenner ’15 pitched a nine-inning shutout. 

However, despite successful pitching, WPI’s offense still managed to have a rather successful day. Senior shortstop Nick Comei had a tremendously successful outing, as he continued his previously dominant week by going 2-4, with a double, a triple and a pair of RBIs. In the first, he managed to knock in a double to bring home freshman Ryan Tropeano. In the same inning, he managed to score on a single by sophomore Matt Howard. Later on, in the fifth inning, Comei batted in Tropeano with a powerful triple. 

For the Brandeis offense, infielder Jay Schaff ’17 hit on two of three attempts but did not score. Infielder Victor Oppenheimer ’20 went three for four but also did not manage to bring home any runs. Outfielder Ryan Tettemer ’17, however, managed to score the only Brandeis run in the ninth inning off a double from outfielder Dan O’Leary ’20. Thus, the offense was not bad; rather, the Judges were unable to convert enough of their hits into runs until the last inning.

Despite the 4-1 loss, O’Neal dominated the defensive side and several batters managed to get on base multiple times. Nonetheless, it was simply not enough to overtake the Engineers.

WPI began each inning with a new pitcher, but sophomore pitcher Sam Bacchiocchi was awarded with the win.

Overall, this was a positive game in many ways, as it gave the Judges a lot to learn from. Additionally, several players can and should use it as a confidence boost going forward this season.

Aside from this matchup, Brandeis unfortunately had many other games scheduled to play at this time, but due to the excessive snow that has fallen in New England lately, many fields are still covered in white, making it difficult to host games.

They have postponed five games against teams that could all be considered important matchups this season. Teams they missed their chance to play against included Babson College, Bates College and Eastern Connecticut State University.

Thus, though the Judges have a rather subpar record at 1-5,  they also did not have the opportunity to play against many teams that they could have potentially beaten, proving that their record may not entirely reflect their capacity for success.

Additionally, the group has yet to play an in-conference game, which further shows that they have the potential to turn things around, or at least start to win games that matter most.

The Judges look to take on Salem State University this coming Monday at 3 p.m.  The squad has a lot to prove, as they have not put up much of a fight against their opponents so far this year.    While they have had some impressive individual performances, they will need to work as a team to start picking up wins.  Solid pitching, productive hitting and strong supportive defense will all be necessary for the team to be victorious. The schedule has been scattered and disrupted so far, which might be contributing to the lack of success through five games; regularity might be what this team needs. Perhaps it will start to pick up momentum with what should be an increased frequency of games.