Pitching Helps Brandeis Sweep Coast Guard, Get Back to .500
Adam Levin '94
The Brandeis University baseball team got great pitching and some timely hitting to sweep a doubleheader from the visiting U.S. Coast Guard Academy, 4-1 and 3-2, on Stein Diamond. With the wins, the Judges extend their winning streak to four in a row and climb back to .500 on the season.
TEAM RECORDS
- Brandeis, 8-8.
- Coast Guard, 7-6.
HOW IT HAPPENED, GAME 1
- In the opener, three Brandeis pitchers held the Bears to two hits over seven innings in the 4-1 win.
- Grad student Eddie Zanor (Branford, Conn./Notre Dame-West Haven) got the start and had a no-decision, throwing 3.1 innings and allowing one unearned Coast Guard run despite not allowing a hit. He did walk six and hit two batters, striking out two.
- First-year Jack Sweeney (Waltham, Mass./Austin Prep) got the win in relief, throwing 2.2 scoreless innings and allowing the only two CGA hits. He walked one and struck out three, improving to 2-1 on the season.
- First-year Brady Lane (Hingham, Mass./Boston College HS) retired the side in order in the seventh to earn his third save.
- Coast Guard took a 1-0 lead in the top of the first on three walks and an error, but Zanor got a strikeout to end the inning and leave the bases loaded.
- Brandeis evened the score in the bottom of the second when sophomore LF Henry Aronwald (Rye Brook, N.Y./Trinity Pawling) homered to left field with one out. It was his second of the season and of his career.
- The Judges had a chance to go ahead in the third, but saw a runner cut down at the plate on a double by sophomore CF Connor Crowley (Guilford, Conn./Notre Dame-West Haven).
- Brandeis finally broke through in the fifth. Zanor drove in the go-ahead run to make it 2-1. First-year DH Danny Tambascia (Newton, Mass./Newton North) hit an RBI single to extend the lead to 3-1, and Aronwald's second RBI of the game closed out the scoring.
- Sweeney worked around a one-out infield single in the sixth, and Lane had a 1-2-3 seventh to end the game.
HOW IT HAPPENED, GAME 2
- In the second contest, it was graduate student Chris Lowe (Chatham, N.J./Oratory Prep) who turned in the Judges' best start of the season. He went eight innings, the team's season-high, scattering nine hits and allowing two runs. He did not walk a batter and struck out a season-high seven. Lowe improved to 2-0 on the campaign
- Lane came on to throw the ninth inning and got his second save of the day, again retiring the side in order.
- Brandeis got the game's first run in the second inning, when Tambascia led off with a single and scored four batters later on a double to left by sophomore RF Jake Freed (Vernon Hills, Ill./Stevenson).
- The Judges escaped some trouble by turning a couple of early double plays, while Coast Guard kept it close by throwing some runners out on the base-paths.
- The Bears went ahead in the sixth inning when the connected on a pair of solo home runs, a lead-off shot by Parker Madden and a two-out blast by Carson Cho, giving the visitors a 2-1 lead.
- Brandeis evened it up in the seventh, as sophomore 2B Dylan Walsh (Arlington, Mass./Arlington) led off with a single. He was bunted to second and moved to third on an error that had runners on the corners. Sophomore SS Mano Boutsikakis (Astoria, N.Y./Xavier) then delivered a game-tying single down the right-field line.
- After Lowe stranded a runner on first in the eighth, Zanor delivered the game-winning blow I the bottom of the eighth, delivering the first pitch of the inning over the right-field fence. He hit his third home run of the season and eighth of his career.
- Lane came in and got the Bears 1-2-3 again to earn his second save of the day and fourth of the season.