Sunday, the Brandeis baseball team got Head Coach Pete Varney (in his 22nd season with the Judges) his 501st career win at the Division III level with a come-from-behind 7-6 victory over host UMass-Dartmouth in Dartmouth, Mass.The Judges' 6-3 win over Suffolk University Thursday, coupled with the UMass-Dartmouth victory, helped the squad raise its record above .500 (9-8-1) for the first time since their trip to Florida in March. Sunday at Umass, the Judges finally pulled everything together for their best performance of the season, winning 7-6.

Brandeis struck first in the top-half of the first frame, as centerfielder Andrew Kahn '03 scored on designated hitter Tom McShane's '03 sacrifice fly.

The roof appeared to be caving in on Brandeis in the bottom of the second, as Dartmouth roughed up Judges starter Mike Parissi '03 for four runs on four hits, including a three-run home run. Trailing 4-1, the Judges got two runs back in the third, but gave up one run in both the third and fourth innings to fall behind 6-3.

The Judges entered the eighth trailing by that same three-run margin. In the top of the eighth, Brandeis displayed the talent that allowed them to win 14 straight games last year. The inning was initially promising, as second baseman Nick Adams '03 led off with a double. It began to appear that Brandeis would be unable to take advantage of Adams' clutch hit when shortstop Lars Borssen '04 struck out and Kahn popped up to first base.

With two outs, third baseman Jeff Krasner '05 came to the rescue with a single. First baseman Dan McIntosh followed up with a double to send Krasner racing to third.

Tom McShane then delivered, doubling to drive in two runs. The offensive explosion continued, as leftfielder Jon Brown '03 drove in McShane with a double. The inning ended when catcher Sean Ewers '03 lined out to rightfield.

With a 7-6 lead and two innings to hold it, Russ Stutsky '04 came in to face the bottom of the UMass-Dartmouth order in the bottom of the eight. Stutsky was ineffective, giving up a single and a walk without recording a single out. Faced with two on and nobody out, Bryan Lambert '04 was able to retire the side in order with two groundouts and a strikeout.

With the Judges unable to add an insurance run in the ninth, it was up to Lambert to preserve the win. Three batters faced Lambert, and all three went down without making much noise to cement the Judges' 7-6 comeback win.

Paul Ramsdell '04 got his first win of the season and Lambert picked up his first save.

"The team has been playing much better as of late, and we just played our best game of the season at UMass-Dartmouth," Ewers said.

Against Suffolk, the Judges' 6-3 triumph gave Coach Pete Varney his 500th career win.

McShane pitched an excellent game, going the distance and giving up only five hits and three runs to earn his third victory of the year. On offense, the Judges were led by Krasner, Kahn, and Adams. They combined for seven hits and five RBIs.

The team was excited about Varney's milestone, but made sure to pay homage to those who helped get Varney to that point.

"It made everyone remember the outstanding lineage of Brandeis baseball players, who starred on the field before us," said Kahn, "Although we were the players to give Coach Varney his 500th win, it was combined effort of twenty years worth of players just like us."

Varney's record in 22 seasons at Brandeis is 501-280-5, putting him in the top five amongst active Division III baseball coaches.

The Judges also played a game on Tuesday at Wheaton College that was called because of darkness with the score tied at six. This was another comeback game for the Judges. Trailing 6-4 in the top of the ninth, they scored two runs on a single by Kahn and a groundout by Borssen. The inning was completed before play was halted.

"The team has been playing much better as of late and we just played our best game of the season at UMass-Dartmouth," Ewers added, "We're finally starting to get some clutch hits and our comeback win against Dartmouth was a very important step on our quest towards the playoffs. We have no quit in us and we'll continue to play hard to the last out. When we do that good things will continue to happen for us."

The Judges will look o make their run toward the playoffs beginning Thursday at home against the University of Southern Maine (USM) at 3 p.m. The Huskies have won two D-III national titles in the 90s (1991 and 1997).