WINTER HAVEN, Fla. – The Brandeis University baseball team scored in double digits for the third time this season and improved to 3-0 for the first time since 2016 today with an 11-2 victory over Elmira College at Chain-O-Lakes Park as part of the RussMatt Invitational in Winter Haven, Florida. The Eagles fall to 1-3 on the campaign.
Brandeis trailed for the first time this season, as Elmira scored single runs in the first and second innings. Jack Volpe came home on a wild pitch in the first inning, and an error allowed Jourdan Plaisted to score in the second.
The Judges rallied in the bottom of the third to take the lead for good. After a pair of walks and a wild pitch put runners in scoring position, junior 1B Isaac Fossas (Dudley, Mass./Milton Academy) knotted the game with a two-run single to left field. Another walk moved Fossas into scoring position, and junior catcher Luke Hall (Georgetown, Mass./Georgetown) singled back up the middle, giving the Judges the lead.
Junior Mike Khoury (E. Bridgewater, Mass./E. Bridgewater) plated a run with a sacrifice fly in the fourth to make it a 4-2 game, and the Judges blew things open with a three-run fifth. Junior Tommy Sand (South Windsor, Conn./South Windsor) singled and Hall scored on an overthrow to open the scoring in the frame, while rookies Brian King (Palos Verde, Calif./Palos Verde) and Drew Michaud (Madison, Conn./Xavier) also drove in runs on a ground out and a single, respectively. Sand added a sac fly of his own in the seventh.
Hall delivered his second home run of the season and third of his career in the bottom of the eighth to give the Judges their third-straight game with 10-plus runs. It marks the third such streak for the Judges over the past two seasons.
The Judges' offense backed up a pair of terrific pitching performances. Sophomore Cam Roberts (Leominster, Mass./Nashoba Regional) got the start and went 5.2 innings, allowing four hits and two runs (one earned). He struck out four and walked just one, earning his first win of the season and the fourth of his career. Rookie Asher Kaplan (Jamaica Plain, Mass./Boston Latin) was even better in relief, retiring all 10 batters he faced to pick up the save. Kaplan had three strikeouts as 24 of his 37 pitches were for strikes.
Offensively, Hall went 3-5 with three RBI, three runs scored, a double and a home run. He is hitting .533 (8-15) through his first three contests, and leads the team with seven runs scored and seven RBI. King (2-4, RBI, R) was the only other Judge with multiple hits, while Fossas and Sand each had two RBI on the day.
Elmira's Jansen Crossley had two of the squad's four hits, while neither of their two runs came in on RBI. Robert Gruber took the loss, giving up three hits and four runs (three earned) with three strikeouts and five walks in 4.1 innings of action.
Brandeis will meet Bates College for the second time this season tomorrow at 11 a.m. The Judges defeated the Bobcats on Tuesday, 11-5. Brandeis will be looking for their first 4-0 start since 2004.
