The men's baseball team closed out its week in Florida at the University Athletic Association Championships with a 4-1 loss to Emory University on Sunday. After starting the Championships with a pair of losses, the Judges went on to post a 2-4 record in their final games, sending their record to 6-8 overall and 2-6 in UAA play.

Prior to Sunday's game, Brandeis fell to the University of Rochester by a score of 7-6 on Friday and split a doubleheader on Thursday. The Judges defeated Washington University in St. Louis 5-3 before losing 10-6 to Emory in the second game.

The men then lost to Case Western Reserve University 16-6 on Wednesday, but secured a 3-2 win against Rochester on Tuesday.

Brandeis took a 1-0 lead in the fourth inning of Sunday's game on a sacrifice fly from shortstop Dominic Schwartz '14 that drove in first baseman Kyle Brenner '15. Emory responded in the bottom half of the inning with an RBI single from freshman shortstop Jack Karras to tie the game. The Eagles went on to score two more runs in the sixth inning and one in the seventh, holding on for the 4-1 victory.

Starting pitcher Elio Fernandez '15 took the loss for the Judges, allowing four hits and two earned runs in five innings.

In Friday's match against Rochester, Brandeis came close to a miraculous comeback in the ninth inning. The Judges, trailing 7-3 in the ninth inning, capitalized on two Rochester errors to score three unearned runs. However, it was too little, too late as Brandeis fell 7-6 to the Yellowjackets. Although Brenner picked up the loss, he threw a complete game, throwing 82 of his 101 total pitches for strikes.

While Brenner allowed 15 hits, he explained that he was pitching for contact, entrusting that the defense would make the key plays.

"I felt like I had good control on the ball," he said. "I was just trying to get the ball inside. I gave up a lot of hits, [but] I was trying to get a little more contact and just let the defense do their job behind me."

Thursday's game against Emory was more of an offensive slugfest than Sunday's duel against the Eagles. After trailing 3-0 in the third inning, Brandeis got on the board with an RBI double by second baseman Rob Trenk '15 to drive in Schwartz from third base.

Designated hitter Tom McCarthy '15 launched a single past second base, but after an Emory throwing error, Trenk took advantage and crossed home plate to bring Brandeis within a run. However, Emory went on to score one run in the fourth before scoring a combined six runs in the sixth, seventh and eighth innings.

Though the Judges produced a pair of runs in both the seventh and eighth inning, it was not enough as Emory held on for the 10-6 win.

In the first game of the double header on Thursday, Brandeis narrowly escaped with a 5-3 victory over WashU.

The Judges were locked in a 1-1 tie heading into the ninth but then added four runs on a pair of two-run singles by Trenk and left fielder Sam Miller '16.

The Bears did not go away without a fight though, scoring two runs in the bottom half of the ninth and loading the bases with two outs. Fernandez, who relieved starting pitcher Brian Ing '14, then secured the save, forcing a WashU batter to fly out to left field to end the game.

The Judges lost to Case 16-6 Tuesday, falling prey to an impressive offensive performance that included a total of 10 runs in five innings.

Though Brandeis endured mixed results throughout the week, Brenner said there were a number of positive takeaways from the trip.

"Our starting rotation looked really strong over the span of the week," he said.

"Our young bullpen [also] got a lot of experience over the week and we had some timely hitting."

Brenner did admit, though, that the team has a number of areas it needs to improve on moving forward in the season.

"[We need to play] a clean nine-inning game [and] make sure we're in the game the whole time, because like we saw, the game can shift at any moment," he continued.

"If we're in it, we know we can compete with anybody, as we saw this weekend."

The Judges home opener versus Bridgewater State University today has been rescheduled.