While the rain that forced a second postponement of Friday's game against Western New England College subsided on Sunday, the baseball team's pitching could find no shelter from an unrelenting torrent of hits in their doubleheader at Worcester Polytechnic Institute. A total of 33 hits by the WPI Engineers proved too much for the struggling Brandeis bats to overcome as the Judges fell twice, 10-3 and 10-1.

Earlier in the week, Brandeis, now 8-16 on the year, lost to Rhode Island College 5-1 on Thursday and 3-1 to Tufts University last Tuesday.

In the Sunday's opener against WPI, the Judges managed only six hits against WPI's 15. The Engineers committed four errors, which led to two unearned runs.

However, the pitchers were unable to minimize the damage as the staff gave up only one earned run and stranded seven Judges on base in seven innings.

It was the Judges' turn to experience trouble in the field in the second game, and they paid significantly. After junior left fielder Brian Watkins was thrown out at the plate in the first inning, starter Mike Swerdloff '13 was poised to escape a two-out, bases-loaded jam unscathed when he induced a ground ball to third baseman Tony Deshler '11.

But an errant throw pulled first baseman Drake Livada '10 off the bag, allowing the runner to reach, a run to score and the inning to continue.

Two singles and a triple later, WPI had put up six runs in the first inning, dropping a dagger on the Judges' hopes of pulling out a game-two win.

"[Deshler] fielded it cleanly and he threw to first instead of just stepping on [third base]," Swerdloff said of the play. "After that, I was furious and . they had six runs before I knew it."

Assistant Coach Brian Lambert understood Swerdloff's negative reaction.

"It's not even a rookie pitcher, it's just any pitcher," said Lambert. "You get frustrated when you basically get out of an inning and an error is made. WPI capitalized on all of that. That's what basically boxed us back in."

"Mike was throwing well," said fellow rookie left-hander Jesse Link '13, who pitched a third of an inning in relief in the second game. "They got some ground balls through the holes, and once two or three runs get on the board- he trailed off."

"The wind just goes out of our sails," finished Swerdloff.

The Judges were able to get off to an early lead in the first game, where they scored a run on two WPI errors.

Deshler, after reaching on an error by senior center fielder Cody McGregor, scored when senior Ryan Marques, who got the win, fielded a ground ball off the bat of right fielder Jon Chu '12 and threw it past the first baseman.

In the third, after scoring a run on three straight two-out singles from second baseman James Likis '13, Chu and left fielder Chris Ferro '13, the rally stalled when captain catcher Artie Posch '10 stranded two runners with a groundout to short.

Brandeis added an unearned run in the fifth on a Ferro RBI but could muster nothing more.

Ferro continues to lead the team is several hitting categories, including batting average, slugging percentage and RBIs.

Following the deflating first-inning scoring spree by WPI in game two, the Brandeis bats showed no hint of life until the last inning, when a leadoff walk of Posch sparked a brief rally.

Right fielder Joe Gally '12 scored Posch from third on a two-out single. Another walk loaded the bases, but Deshler grounded into the last out of the game, dropping the Judges' record to a lackluster 8-16 with their fifth consecutive loss.

Lambert commented on the Judges' need for timely scoring.

"We just need to start performing, hitting-wise," said Lambert of the Judges' recent failure. "We're getting hits, but guys aren't scoring. We're not getting timely hits. . Whether we can build on that or not, that's kind of up to them."

Link knows that the time to build is soon, as the team faces a challenging schedule for the remainder of the season, including two away games against third-ranked Trinity College.

"You always want to play good opponents," said Link. "But it's [going to] be a tough stretch."

The Judges head to Worcester State College todayat 3:30 p.m. to face another strong team, the Lancers, who have a record of 16-5-1.