The baseball team won four out of five games this week, taking the final four after losing at Bowdoin College, 8-7, on Wednesday. The Judges then came back home to beat Gordon College, 5-2, on Thursday and Salve Regina University, 2-1, on Friday, before sweeping the double header against Trinity College on Sunday, 2-0 and 3-1.

The four game winning streak is the longest of the season for the Judges. Their record now stands at 14-20 with just two games left in the current season.

The first game of the double-header on Sunday featured pitcher Kyle Brenner '15, who pitched a complete game shutout.
He walked two batters and allowed just two hits while striking out a career-high nine batters in seven innings.

The only scoring of the game came in the fourth inning. Center fielder Liam O'Connor '16 led the inning off with a triple, the first of his career.
Left fielder Nick Cortese '13 kept the momentum going, as he hit the next pitch up the middle, driving in O'Connor.

After an error and a wild pitch resulted in Cortese moving to third, second baseman Tommy McCarthy '15 grounded out, plating Cortese and giving the Judges the two-run advantage.

The top three in the order recorded five of the Judges' six hits and scored both of the runs.

"The key to the first game was just setting the tone early," said shortstop Dominic Schwartz '14 of the Judges' first matchup against the Bantams.

"Kyle started off strong, and then we were able to put a couple runs across to take control of the game. After that we were able to hold the lead and get the win."

Pitcher Brian Ing '14 started the second game for the Judges. He allowed just one run in three innings of work.

James Machado '16 relieved Ing in the fourth inning and put forth a quality effort on the hill. He allowed just one hit over four innings and struck out six to pick up the victory.

"Our pitching has been phenomenal down the stretch," Schwartz said.

"All of our starters have gone out and given us a great chance to win, and the guys in our bullpen have stepped up and gotten big outs for us."

The Judges managed to score all of their runs with two outs in the first and second innings.

In the first, Cortese had a base knock. Brenner then knocked him in with a double down the right field line.

In the second inning, third baseman Pat Seaward '13 reached on an infield single and got to second on a bad throw.

Pitcher Dylan Britton '13 smashed it through the middle to drive in Seaward and then stole second. Catcher Chris Ferro '13 tripled to center, plating Britton.

Eight different Judges had one hit, but no player managed to get on base twice. Trinity sophomore left fielder Scott Huley had two of Trinity's four hits and was the only player to have more than one hit in the game.

On Thursday, the Judges had another complete game, this time by Mike Swerdloff '13. Swerdloff helped the Judges upset the Salve Regina Seahawks, the No. 8 team in New England.

The loss ended the Seahawks' 10-game win streak and brought their record to 26-8.

Swerdloff received just one run in support over his last three outings. On Thursday, the two runs of support he received was just enough. He surrendered just five hits for the third time this season and threw his third straight complete game. He struck out six and did not walk a batter.

The Seahawks led off the first inning with a run, but the Judges answered right back. Ferro singled to lead off the game and advanced on a Cortese ground out. With two outs, Brenner singled to right field, knocking in Ferro and giving the Judges an important advantage.

The game was a pitchers' duel from there, as no team scored until the eighth inning. Then, Ferro led the inning off with a single. O'Connor tried to bunt him over, but instead reached base with a hit through the left side, putting two men on base.

After Cortese bunted the runners into scoring position, Brenner laid down a suicide squeeze as Ferro raced home to win the game. Swerdloff then finished the game off with three outs in the ninth to give the team a vital victory.

Schwartz commented on the team's recent stretch of great pitching as a factor that contributed to the success in the previous week.

"It's taken a lot of pressure off of the hitters, so we've been able to get clutch hits instead of trying to do too much," he said of sharing the burden of good play.

"We are really clicking on all cylinders right now and it's an exciting thing to see. There's truly a lot of potential there and right now we're showing that."

On Thursday, the Judges found themselves down 2-0 after the first inning at home against Gordon College.

The Judges played some small ball to plate two runs in the fourth inning to tie the game at two in an attempt to regain the momentum lost in the early stages of the game.

In the seventh, O'Connor hit a one out double to knock in outfielder Max Hart '16 to break the tie. Brenner knocked in O'Connor with a single, and then designated hitter Dan Gad '14 hit his first career triple to plate Brenner.

Ing started the game for the Judges and gave up two runs in three innings, which certainly threw off the Judges' intention of starting in dominant fashion. However, the pitching staff began to get a foothold in the game, as Elio Fernandez '15, Stefan Weiss '13 and Brenner combined to strike out seven in six scoreless innings to finish the game.

At Bowdoin, the Judges lost a tight game, 8-7. They were down 5-1 before plating four in the fifth to tie the game at five.
However, the momentum soon swung away from the Judges, as Bowdoin scored three more in the sixth to take the lead, and the Judges could only muster two runs in the eighth frame, falling just short.

Britton pitched 5.1 innings, giving up eight runs, six earned. Ferro led the way for the Judges, hitting 2-5 with a double, an RBI and a run.

The Judges round out the season at home against the Massachusetts Institute of Technology on Tuesday and the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth on Wednesday.