SANFORD, Fla. – The Brandeis University baseball team saw its three-game winning streak halted this afternoon as the Judges dropped a 6-3 decision to Case Western Reserve University in the opening game of the 2016 University Athletic Association tournament. The Judges fall to 3-1 overall, the Spartans improve to 4-4.

HOW IT HAPPENED

• CWRU scored three first-inning runs against Brandeis grad student Elio Fernandez (Bronx, N.Y. / Fordham Prep), taking advantage of two Judge errors and a wild pitch.
• The Spartans had runners on second and third with one out, but Fernandez escaped more trouble by getting back-to-back strikeouts.
• The Judges had runners in four of the first five innings against Case pitcher Jake Shields but couldn't cash in before breaking through for two runs in the sixth.
• With runners on the corners and one out, senior catcher Connor Doyle (Avon, Conn./Avon Old Farms) delivered an RBI double to get the Judges on the board, while junior Anthony Nomakeo (Westfield, Mass. / Northfield Mt. Hermon) got the Judges within 3-2 with an RBI groundout.
• The Spartans got one run back in the top of the seventh, taking advantage of wildness to get two runners into scoring position without a hit, thanks to a hit batter, a walk, a wild pitch and a stolen base.
• Spartna Tyler Schovanec made it a 4-2 game with an RBI single, but Brandeis sophomore Bradley Bousquet (Athol, Mass. / Athol) escaped further trouble with his third strikeout of the inning.
• Brandeis trimmed the lead back to one when graduate student Rob Trenk (West Orange, N.J./West Orange) drove in his team-leading sixth run of the season, but Case reliever Connor Tagg escaped a bases-loaded, one-out jam to keep the Spartan's lead at 4-3.
• Case tacked on single runs in the eighth and ninth while Tagg induced five grounders to shortstop by the final six Judge batters, including a 6-4-3 double play, to earn the save.

FOR BRANDEIS – HITTERS

• Five Judges had two hits on the day, with Trenk responsible for two runs with an RBI and a run scored. He went 2-5 and leads the Judges with a .529 average.
• Doyle, senior SS Jay Schaff (Cheshire, Conn./Xavier), senior CF Liam O'Connor (Avon, Conn./Avon)  and rookie 2B Benjamin Bavly (Newton, Mass./Newton North) also had two hits.
• Doyle's double was the team's only extra-base hit.
• Bavly and Schaff also had stolen bases.

FOR BRANDEIS – PITCHERS

• Fernandez fell to 1-1 on the season with 4.1 innings of five-hit ball. He allowed three runs, two earned. He also struck out six, walked three and hit a batter.
• Bousquet allowed just three hits over three innings, giving up two earned runs. He fanned six and walked two with a hit batsman.
• Junior Liam Coughlin (Townsend, Mass. / Lowell Catholic) allowed three hits and one unearned run  with one whiff.

FOR CASE WESTERN RESERVE

• The Spartans did not have an extra-base hit among their 11 hits,  but they set a UAA single-game record with 12 stolen bases in 13 attempts.
• Starter Jake Shields earned the win to move to 2-0 on the season. He allowed 10 hits and three earned runs with five strikeouts and no walks.
• CF Aaron Cain had a game-high three hits.

UP NEXT

• The Judges meet NYU tomorrow at 2 p.m. in their second game of the UAA tournament.  Brandeis and Case Western Reserve will meet again on Friday morning at 11 a.m.