The baseball team dropped both games of a doubleheader at Clark University on Sunday afternoon. The team fell in the first game by a score of 2-1 and lost in their second game 6-2 to bring their record to 5-8. 

Judges 2, Clark 6

In the second game of the afternoon, the Judges gave up a barrage of big hits and crucial runs early in the contest. 

Pitcher Ryan Pocock ’18 gave up eight hits and six earned runs in his four innings of work. He was only able to strike out one batter while walking three.  The team was able to keep Clark off the scoreboard for the rest of the game, but it was not enough as they struggled to produce runs. 

The Judges got on the scoreboard early in the top of the first inning with a single from infielder Greg Heineman ’16 that plated infielder Benjamin Bavly ’19. The squad added another run in the top of the third inning when Heineman contributed another RBI by singling in Bavly.

 While Heineman and Bavly rose to the occasion with two RBIs and two runs scored, respectively, the rest of the team failed to show up. Outfielder Liam O’Connor ’16 had two hits of his own, but the rest of the lineup outside of those three only had one total hit, coming from outfielder Cam Shaw ’16. 

Clark was able to tie up the game in the first inning with a run of its own. It went ahead for good in the bottom of the third inning, when the team exploded for four runs off of three hits. It added an insurance run in the bottom of the fourth inning to ice the game and sweep the afternoon against a depleted Judges' offense.  

Judges 1, Clark 2

In the first game of Sunday’s competition, a pitchers' duel resulted in a one-run contest. Pitcher Sam Miller ’16 went the distance for the complete game loss. Miller pitched six innings while giving up five hits and two runs. He was able to significantly lower his season ERA to 6.43 after the strong outing on the day. 

However, he was outpitched by Clark’s staff, who only allowed one earned run. 

The Judges only scored their run in the top of the sixth inning, when they already trailed by two runs and were struggling to remain in the game. 

Miller had allowed runs in both the bottom of the fourth and fifth innings. A commendable pitching performance from the senior was overshadowed by a lackluster offensive performance from the rest of his squad. 

The Judges had a disappointing total of four hits during the game, three of which came off the bat of infielder Jay Schaff ’17. The other base hit came from outfielder Max Hart ’16, who doubled in the top of the fifth. 

For the season, Heineman has been the focal point of the offense with a total of 12 RBIs and a batting average of .392. Infielder Rob Trenk ’16 has contributed seven RBIs of his own out of forty total at bats. Pitcher Nolan Murray ’18 is the only pitcher on the team yet to give up an earned run, closely followed by pitcher Anthony Nomakeo ’17 who has an ERA of 2.38 in 11.1 innings pitched. 

Coming up for the Judges on their schedule will be a matchup at Western New England University this afternoon, as well as a contest on the road against Worcester Polytechnic Institute tomorrow. This weekend, the team will travel to Boston for a game against the University of Massachusetts Boston on Friday afternoon. 

Last season, both games against New England and WPI were canceled due to extenuating circumstances. This season, the Judges will be able to take a fresh look at both teams and will look to turn their offense around.

The Judges will need these games to prove their abilities and confidence going forward. At 5-8 overall, the men can significantly improve their record with three wins over the week and level out their sub-par record. 

With late-season games against New York University, the Judges need any wins they can get to land them above NYU in the standings.