WALTHAM, Mass. - The Brandeis University baseball team suffered
their third straight loss, 9-7, to Fitchburg State College in
regional action. With the loss, the Judges drop to 10-12 on
the year, while Fitchburg State moves to 10-6 with the victory.
Fitchburg State started off the game rolling on offense.
They scored four times in the first inning as they saw all nine of
their batters step to the plate. Fitchburg State sophomore 2B
Brian Ware (Beverly, Mass/Beverly) started things off with a
one-out double down the right field line. He scored on an RBI
single to centerfield by senior LF Andy Sauer (Willington,
Conn./E.O. Smith). Sauer and two others would also score in
the inning to give the Falcons a 4-0 lead after one. Starting
Brandeis sophomore P Pat Nicholson (E. Walpole,
Mass./Walpole), only allowed one earned run of those
four. For the game, he only allowed five earned on 11
hits.
Brandeis' offense started to chip away at the 4-0 deficit.
They scored three runs in the next three innings. In the
first inning, the Judges scored on a sacrifice fly by junior 1B
Drake Livada (Cape Elizabeth, Maine/ Cape
Elizabeth) to bring home senior LF Mike Alfego
(Shrewsbury, Mass./St. John's) from third base.
Alfego led off with a double down the leftfield line and advanced
to third on a ground ball out. In the second, junior 2B
John O'Brion (Portland, Maine/Portland) singled to
centerfield and advanced to second on a wild pitch. Senior C
Nick Gallagher (Southboro, Mass./St. John's) drove
O'Brion in on an RBI double to leftfield. In the third,
rookie 3B Jon Chu (Hollis Hills, N.Y./Bronx High School of
Science) doubled to left and then scored on a RBI
groundout by sophomore RF Eric Rosenberg (Oakland, N.J./
Indian Hills).
Fitchburg bumped their 4-3 lead to 5-3 in the top of the fifth
but Brandeis erased that deficit by scoring three runs in the
bottom half to take their first lead of the game, 6-5. The
Judges scored the three runs on two hits and a fielder's
choice. The big hit of the inning was a two-out two-run home
run by O'Brion, his first of the season. O'Brion had the top
Brandeis performance of the game going 2-for-4 from the plate with
two RBI and two runs scored.
The Judges' one-run lead would be lost in the top half of the
seventh inning. The Falcons' offense produced four runs to
regain the lead, 9-6. They would go on to win the contest,
9-7, in a back-and-forth contest.
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