The Brandeis University men's baseball team (4-2 UAA, 7-8 overall) proved inconsistent at home last week, defeating Wentworth Institute of Technology, Salve Regina University and Springfield College, but losing to Endicott College and St. Joseph's College (ME).Saturday against St. Joseph's, The Judges lost 6-5 and couldn't convert on several opportunities to win late in the game. Brandeis jumped out to an early lead, scoring three runs in the bottom of the first. The first three Judges reached base on two hits and a walk and scored on a double by Captain Tom McShane '03 and a single by rightfielder Sean Ewers '03.

Brandeis maintained that lead through three innings, as pitcher Chris Pickford '05, making his first career start, yielded just one hit. But in the fourth inning, he began to lose his composure and surrendered two runs on a walk that was followed by a home run to senior first baseman Jesse LaCasse. Pickford then settled back down to get the next two Monk batters to fly out and end the inning.

The score remained 3-2 in favor of Brandeis until the sixth inning. Pitcher Mike Botelho '04 struck out the first batter before giving up a hit and a walk. With two outs, sophomore centerfielder Howard Rutherford hit a grounder to shortstop Lars Borssen '04, but Borssen could not field the ball cleanly and everyone was safe.

The next batter, designated hitter Andy Exley ripped a double to drive in two runs. The following two batters walked to score another run before Botelho struck out senior pitcher Charlie Buker looking. The Monks now led 5-3 after scoring three unearned runs.

Brandeis was unable to answer in the bottom of the sixth, but St. Joseph's scored another run in the top of the seventh on a single by sophomore catcher Derek McIntosh.

Trailing 6-3, the Judges finally made some noise in the bottom of the eighth. After the first batter struck out, Borssen singled and scored on a double by centerfielder Andrew Kahn '03. The next two batters walked to load the bases for catcher Jeremy Taro (GRAD).

But St. Joseph's pulled its starting pitcher Buker for sophomore Matt Vasil. Vasil proceeded to strike out Taro and got designated hitter Jeff Krasner '05 to ground out to second. The Judges were unable to take advantage of an excellent opportunity to tie or take the lead, but they had would receive another chance in the bottom of the ninth.

In the bottom of the ninth, with the Judges trailing 6-5, leftfielder Jon Brown '03 began the inning by grounding to freshman shortstop Tyler Bryant, but Bryant threw wildly to first allowing Brown to reach second base. With one out, second baseman Nick Adams '03 singled Bryant home, but was later caught stealing to record the second out. With no one on and two outs, Borsen grounded out to end the game.

Buker got the win for the Monks, while Vasil received a save. Botelho took the loss for the Judges to lower his record to 0-2 and raise his ERA to 5.19. The loss also left Coach Pete Varney one short of his 500th career win.

Although the Judges yielded six runs, Captain Mike Parissi '04 feels the team pitched well enough to win.

"I think Pickford pitched well overall," he said, "Anytime you're in a position to win, I think you pitched pretty well."



On Friday against Springfield College (4-3 in NEWMAC play, 4-8 overall), the Judges played another close game and escaped with a dramatic 7-6 win.

The Judges fell behind early as the Pride executed their own version of "small ball," scoring a run in the first inning with a walk, a stolen base, a fielder's choice groundout and a single.

Brandeis evened the score at one in the third inning on a Taro single that drove in first baseman Dan McIntosh '04 from second base. The Judges scored again in the fourth as Kahn drove in Adams on a single and third baseman David Graham '04 drove in Kahn with another single.

The Judges cruised through the first five innings, as pitcher Tim Dunphy '06 gave up just one hit after the first frame. But Dunphy gave up a run in both the sixth and the seventh innings, tying the game at three.

In the eighth inning, the Judges fell apart. With one out, the first Pride baserunner reached on an error by Adams. After another out was recorded, two consecutive singles drove in a run and Dunphy was pulled for Russ Stutsky '04. Stutsky did not fare any better than Dunphy had earlier, throwing two wild pitches and giving up a single that the Pride turned into two more runs to take what seemed a commanding 6-3 lead.

In the bottom of the eighth, the Judges were able to answer. McShane, the leadoff hitter, singled up the middle. The next two batters singled before Adams was hit by a pitch, scoring McShane. With the bases loaded, two consecutive groundouts produced three RBIs to give the Judges a 7-6 lead.

McShane came on to pitch the ninth. He turned in an excellent performance, yielding a mere leadoff single before striking out the side to preserve the win. While Stutsky got the win to improve to 2-0, McShane picked up his first save of the year.

On Thursday against Salve Regina University (3-0 Commonwealth Coast Conference, 7-6 overall), the Judges displayed a rare offensive barrage, drubbing the Seahawks 12-3.

Brandeis jumped on the Seahawks for three runs in the first inning and never looked back, scoring six in the second, two in the fourth and one in the seventh. Every Brandeis starter got at least one hit, and McShane and Brown each homered once. Kahn, Graham, McIntosh, Taro, McShane, and Brown all enjoyed multi-hit games. Bryan Lambert '04 pitched a solid game, giving up two runs and six hits over six innings to pick up his second win of the season.

On Wednesday against Endicott College, the Judges' bats fell silent and Brandeis dropped a tightly-contested pitcher's duel 2-1. Endicott scored first on rightfielder Pat Vincent's two-run home run to left. That single blow would be decisive, as the Judges managed only one run for the game. That run came in the eighth inning when Kahn drove in pinch runner Joe Loynd '05 with a single.

Both pitchers were masterful on the afternoon, as Brandeis starter Parissi gave up just five hits and two earned runs in 7.2 innings of work. For his effort, he received his second loss of the year to run his record to 1-2 despite a solid 3.48 ERA. The Endicott starter, sophomore Greg Allain, pitched a complete game (he yielded just one unearned run and three hits).

Tuesday against Wentworth Tech, Brandeis came away with an easy 7-1 victory.

The big inning for the Judges was the bottom of the fifth when, leading 3-0, they scored four runs on four hits. The inning began when Borssen led off with a double to left. McIntosh grounded out to move Borssen to third before Taro singled to left to drive him in. Brown then doubled down the rightfield line, scoring Taro.

Following another groundout, Ewers walked and Botelho was hit by a pitch. Centerfielder Paul Ramsdell '04 then singled down the rightfield line to score Ewers and Brown. A third groundout finally ended the inning, but the damage was done.

McShane pitched seven innings of one-hit ball to earn his second win of the year. Although the team has played well in spurts, the Judges are disappointed with their progress thus far.

"I think the reason that we are performing below expectations right now is because we are starting to press," remarked the senior, "We've been hitting better, but we still aren't getting that clutch hit, and it seems that hitters are sometimes trying to score five runs with each swing."

Through 15 games last year, the Judges were 9-6. They then embarked on a record-setting 14-game winning streak that allowed them to earn a coveted birth in the Division III NCAA tournament.

Just two games off of last year's pace, the Judges aren't ready to panic.

"We're talking a difference of two games for our record, which I do not consider to be something that we need to get overly concerned with," said McShane, "It's done and over with, we need to learn from it, and we need to work a little harder come game time to gain control and dictate how the game is going to play out. This upcoming week is going to be a big week for us to gain confidence by beating good teams such as Wheaton and Eastern Connecticut. Once we do that, I think we'll be on the right track again."

The Judges visited Wheaton College today at 3 p.m.