The Brandeis University baseball team (18-11-1) is making its run towards a repeat berth in the Division III College World Series, winning four out of five games last week as they head down the final stretch of the season.On Friday against Bentley College (6-15), the Judges made the most of their opportunities by scoring seven unearned runs on four errors in a 10-7 victory.

Bentley took an early lead when freshman rightfielder Gabriel Vicente led off the game by clubbing his second home run of the season off Brandeis pitcher Paul Ramsdell '04. Ramsdell would not yield anymore runs until the sixth when he was pulled leading 8-4. The Judges did most of their damage during a four-run fourth inning as well as two-run innings in the fifth and sixth.

In the seventh and eighth, the Judges began to break down defensively, committing an error and giving up three hits to allow the Falcons a combined three runs in the seventh and eighth to cut the deficit to one.

In the bottom of the eighth, the Judges were able to put away the game by scoring two runs on a Bentley throwing error that allowed third baseman Lars Borssen '04 to score from second after he reached base on a double, and leftfielder Jon Brown '04 later drove in centerfielder Andrew Kahn '03 who reached on the throwing error. Both runs were unearned. Bryan Lambert '04 pitched a solid ninth to earn his fourth save and preserve Ramsdell's second win of the week.

Brown and Borssen both had outstanding games, collecting three hits apiece.

On Thursday at St. Joseph's College, Brandeis won 4-0 behind an outstanding pitching performance from Co-captain Mike Parissi '03. Parissi pitched a complete game, giving up just two hits and one walk while striking out seven.

On offense, the Judges were powered by Kahn, Co-captain Tom McShane '03, Nick Adams '03, and KC Tenukas '03 who had all of the Judges' runs and RBI.

Against the University of Southern Maine (18-11) on Wednesday, the Judges suffered their only loss of the week by a 3-1 score.

Brandeis led briefly after scoring a run in the fourth when Brown scored on a fielder's choice. But the Judges soon lost the lead when senior second baseman Andy Lang led off the fourth with a double and scored when senior first baseman Tyler Delorme drove him in with a single.

Southern Maine scored what were ultimately the winning runs in the bottom of the sixth when they got two runs on three hits, including another double from Land. The Judges made some noise in the seventh, but were unable to score despite having runners on second and third with one out. Adams hit a fly ball to center for the second out of the inning, but catcher Sean Ewers '03 was thrown out at the plate after tagging on the fly ball. That was the last serious scoring threat Brandeis made. Despite giving up only three runs over seven innings, Lambert suffered the loss, bringing his record to 2-3.

On Tuesday against Bowdoin College (12-14) the Judges gained an easy 5-1 win.

The game was scoreless until the fifth inning when Brandeis scored three runs on two hits. The Polar Bears struck back in the bottom of the fifth with one run on three singles. The Judges went on to score one run in both the sixth and seventh innings to secure the victory.

McShane pitched a complete game, yielding eight hits, one earned run, and one walk while striking out 12. The victory raised McShane's record to a team- best 6-1. McShane helped his cause with an excellent day at the plate, going 3-5 and scoring a run. First baseman Dan McIntosh '04 and Brown chipped in with two hits and two runs scored. Ewers also had a solid day with the bat, going 1-4 and driving in two runs.

Against Johnson & Wales (20-12) on Monday, Brandeis captured an easy 10-2 victory.

The Judges scored five runs in the first and five runs in the fifth to take a 10-0 lead which was never seriously threatened. Ramsdell (2-1) got the win, as the junior gave up no runs and two hits in six innings. Kahn, McIntosh, and Adams each had multi-hit games.

Given last year's success, the Judges had very high expectations going into this season. After a rough start, they are now on track heading down the stretch.

"I think we just kind of got in a groove," McIntosh said, "We had so many rain-outs and snow-outs. It's been a weird season. We were lax a little bit. Early on we panicked but now we're just playing to have fun and I think it really shows in the wins."

With the season winding down, the Judges are looking to take the necessary steps to get back to the College World Series. Brandeis is an independent team in the northeast region. To make it to the postseason, they must win the northeast tournament. All northeastern conference champions earn an automatic birth in the northeastern tournament, but as an independent school, they can only get into the tournament based on their record. Every game is crucial to the Judges, and after a 15-9 win over Amherst College yesterday, they appear to have enough momentum to make their tournament dreams a reality. Although each win moves the Judges closer to the postseason, they do not control their own destiny.

"It just depends on a lot of factors. All we can do is win and hope," McIntosh said.

Brandeis plays its final regular season game at home today against Babson College (20-12) at 3:30. The beavers are playing well of late, having won nine of their past 12 games.

On offense the Beavers are led by freshman catcher Ted Dzubia who is hitting .400 and senior second baseman Kevin Higa who is batting at .397.

The Beaver aces are junior Jason Kosow, who is 3-0 with a microscopic .90 ERA, and senior Bill Fitzgerald who is 3-1 with a 3.48 ERA.

Babson has won three of their last four games, including two victories over Clark and a 13-5 win over UMass-Boston.