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The baseball team suffered its first University Athletic Association conference loss Sunday in Florida, falling to the Bears of  Washington University in St. Louis 5-4 on a walk-off hit in the bottom of the ninth. 
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The defeat leaves the Judges with a 2-5 record overall and 0-1 record in UAA play heading into eight games in the next seven days against UAA opponents. 
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Following the cancellation of their game Saturday due to flight delays, Brandeis started off Sunday's game slowly. The Bears struck first in the bottom of the second inning, taking advantage of a Brandeis fielding error to take the 1-0 lead. 
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WashU added two more runs in the third inning off of a RBI single from sophomore third basemen Chris Lowery and a fielder's choice hit by sophomore designated hitter Brian Cizek. 
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The Judges responded, though, in the fifth with two runs of their own, each of them unearned. The inning was highlighted by a RBI double hit by center fielder Liam O'Connor '16. O'Connor hit three for five on the day with a RBI and two runs scored. Though WashU scored another insurance run in the sixth to increase their lead by two to a 4-2 margin, Brandeis rallied back in the seventh inning, scoring two more runs to tie the game. 
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Catcher Chris Ferro's '13 RBI triple and designated hitter Dan Gad's '14 sacrifice fly highlighted the inning, in which the Judges matched their total runs for the game up to that point. Ferro finished the day hitting two for three with one RBI and one run scored.
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Following a scoreless eighth inning for the Bears, the Judges had an opportunity to take the lead in the top of the ninth with runners at the corners, but were unable to capitalize, leaving the two men on base to end the inning. 
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The near miss would come back to haunt the Judges. While Brandeis got the first out in the bottom half of the inning, WashU was able to string together three hits, including the walk-off single.
Although the Judges scored four runs on the day, their bats struggled. Brandeis collectively struck out 10 times, had only six hits and left eight runners on base.
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Starting pitcher Kyle Brenner '15 threw his fourth career complete game, throwing a total of 122 pitches in the losing effort to fall to 0-2 on the year. He faced 40 batters total, allowing 11 hits and four earned runs while striking out two. 
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According to Ferro, the Judges have all the major components of their game together-they just need to work on minor details.
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"We have to do the little things before we can win games like that. We missed a couple of bunts in big spots. The locker room was tough, but we have a strong senior class that keeps our team up and makes sure that we stay positive."
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For Brenner, the reason the Judges lost the game came down to the little things. 
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"We had a few rallies behind big hitting by O'Connor and Ferro. We just gotta play small ball and get ahead. We have been in every game, we just need to break out," Brenner said.
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The Judges will have plenty of opportunities to do just that, as they continue to play in the UAA Tournament down in Florida, which gives them the chance to make improvements against tough competition before returning home for their first home tilt against Wentworth Institute of Technology on March 20.
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While Sunday's game was disappointing for the Judges both in terms of the nature of the result as well as the actual result itself, the Judges were able to gain a measure of consolation Monday afternoon by downing the University of Rochester YellowJackets 5-3 in a tight game. 
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In that encounter, the Judges rode solid pitching from left-hander Mike Swerdloff '13, who tossed seven innings, allowing five hits and three runs before being relieved by Elio Fernandez '15. The Judges' bats were also working well, as O'Connor hit two RBIs, while Gad, Brenner and infielder Tommy McCarthy '15 each forced in one run. For his part, McCarthy also hit a double.  
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With eight games scheduled in a span of seven days, including a rematch against WashU Wednesday, Brandeis will look to establish itself as a contender in the UAA.