From Case Western Reserve University Athletics
The Case Western Reserve University baseball team completed a sweep of its four-game series with Brandeis University by winning both games of a doubleheader on Saturday at Stein Diamond in Waltham, Massachusetts. CWRU claimed a 10-0 win in seven innings in the first game, before coming from behind in its final at bat for a 15-12 win against the Judges in the second contest.
CWRU has now won eight straight games and 12 of its last 13 to improve to 22-12 overall for the campaign with an 11-5 University Athletic Association record. Brandeis dropped to 5-27 with the loss, including a 1-15 UAA mark.
With conference play now complete, the Spartans also secured a second-place finish in the final UAA standings with Saturday's wins.
Senior catcher Jack Anderson doubled twice in the second game of the day to set a new program record with 21 for the season, passing former Spartan Sam Alexander for the single-season mark. Junior third baseman Zack Carinci hit safely in both of the games on Saturday to increase his hitting streak to 25 straight games.
As a team, CWRU totaled 65 runs over the four-game sweep of the Judges and has now scored in double figures in each of its last seven games.
Game 1 – CWRU 10, Brandeis 0 (7 inn.)
Sophomore right-handed pitcher Kyle Gearding notched the first complete game shutout of his career, and the Spartans batted around during an eight-run sixth inning to put the game out of reach, en route to a 10-0 win in seven innings against the Judges.
Gearding turned in the best start of his career for his first complete-game effort. Over his seven innings of work, he allowed just two hits and a pair of walks, while striking out six batters to improve to 5-1 for the season. He threw just 77 pitches (51 for strikes) in the game, and improved to 5-1 for the campaign with the win while lowering his ERA to 3.50.
It was the first complete game shutout by a Spartan pitcher since the 2019 season when former Spartan Matt Levine threw nine shutout innings in an 11-0 win over Rochester during the NCAA Tournament.
CWRU broke through for the first run of the game in the third inning when senior shortstop Owen Levinson and senior catcher Jack Anderson started the frame with back-to-back singles with Levinson crossing the plate on a one-out single by junior third baseman Zack Carinci.
The score remained 1-0 until the sixth when CWRU rallied for eight two-out runs. Harris opened the inning with a single, stole second, and scored on a two-out double by senior outfielder Trey Haley. First-year outfielder Matt Trout followed with a double of his own to score Haley and extend the lead to 3-0. Senior first baseman Nick Talarico drew a walk, and then junior designated hitter Connor Stephenson tripled to score two more. Levinson, Anderson, Harris, and Carinci followed with four-straight RBI hits as CWRU grabbed a 9-0 lead by the end of the inning.
CWRU added another run in the seventh on a sacrifice fly by senior RJ Christie, and Gearding worked around a pair of walks in the bottom of the inning to keep the lead at 10 runs, forcing the early ending to the game.
Harris collected three of the Spartans' 15 hits in the game, going three-for-four with a steal, two runs, and an RBI. Carinci was two-for-four with two RBIs and a double, while Anderson, Trout, Haley, and Levinson each had two hits as well.
Brandeis starter Marc Maestri allowed all 10 runs in the game and suffered the loss to fall to 2-4 for the season.
Game 2 – CWRU 15, Brandeis 12
The second game of the day was a back-and-forth offensive affair that found the Spartans trailing by a run heading into the top of the ninth, but CWRU capitalized on a pair of Brandeis errors in the inning to rally for four runs to defeat the Judges 15-12 in the series finale.
The Spartans took a first-inning lead after Anderson led the game off with a walk, stole second, and scored on a ground ball by Carinci. Brandeis took its first lead of the game in the bottom of the first with a pair of runs to go ahead 2-1. In the top of the second, CWRU loaded the bases with one out on a walk and two hit batters, and Anderson doubles to score two and give the Spartans the lead back. An RBI groundout by Harris scored the third run of the inning and extended the Spartans' lead to 4-2, but Brandeis scored two in the bottom of the second to tie the score, and another in the bottom of the third to go ahead 5-4.
CWRU had another answer in the top of the fourth, loading the bases with one out. The Spartans tied the game when sophomore outfielder Nick Harms was hit by a pitch and tied the game on a passed ball that scored Harris. Haley added to the lead with a run-scoring single and a sacrifice fly from Christie made it 8-5. The Judges chipped away at the Spartans' lead with a run in the bottom of the fourth, but CWRU added two more in the fifth on a sacrifice fly by Carinci and a single off Talarico's bat, putting CWRU in front 9-6.
The teams continued to trade runs with Brandeis scoring two in the sixth and CWRU adding one more in the seventh on a Talarico RBI groundout. However, trailing 10-8 heading into the bottom of the eighth, the Judges rallied for three runs to take an 11-10 advantage in the game.
Down to their final three outs, Harris led off the ninth with a base hit and was replaced by Carinci on the basepaths after a fielder's choice. Carinci stole second and moved to third on an error that put runners on the corners with one away. Another error allowed the game-tying run to score, and after a walk loaded the bases, the go-ahead run crossed the plate on a groundout from sophomore designated hitter Jay Smith. CWRU added two more runs in the inning on a single by Trout and junior Tyler Horvath worked around a pair of two-out walks in the bottom of the ninth to secure the win for the Spartans.
Horvath, who pitched the final inning and two-thirds in relief for the Spartans, earned the win to improve to 1-2 on the season.
Anderson went three-for-four with a walk, three runs, two RBIs, two doubles, and a stolen base in the game. Harris added a three-for-six showing with two runs and an RBI. Carinci, Haley, Talarico, and Trout each drove in a pair of runs in the game.
Brandeis's Christian Petrisko suffered the loss for the Judges, falling to 0-2 on the season.