BUZZARDS BAY, Mass. – The Brandeis University baseball team got back to the .500 mark today with a doubleheader sweep of Massachusetts Maritime Academy on the road. The Judges took the opener, 7-4, and completed the sweep with a 7-6 win in nine innings.

TEAM RECORDS

• Brandeis: 3-3.
• Mass. Maritime: 1-4.

HOW IT HAPPENED, GAME 1

• The Judges got off to a fast start in the opener, scoring three runs in the top o the first. Back-to-back doubles by first-year 2B Dylan Walsh (Arlington, Mass. / Arlington) and grad student 3B Brian King (Palos Verde, Calif./Palos Verde) made it 2-0. Junior catcher Justin Keeler (Seymour, Conn. / St. Joseph's) made it 3-0 with a sacrifice fly that plated King.
• MMA got one run back in the bottom of the first on a double and a two-out single. Brandeis responded in the top of the second after first-year SS Matt Chafin (Canton, Mass. / Canton) led off with a double.
• The Buccaneers made a nice play on outfielder Henry Aronwald's (Rye Brook, N.Y. / Trinity Pawling) sacrifice to cut down the lead runner, but Aronwald stole second and third, coming home on an overthrow to the hot corner.
• Mass. Maritime tied things up with a sacrifice fly in the second and a two-run home run by catcher Matt Hefner in the third that made it 4-4.
• Brandeis senior Sean Decker-Jacoby (Los Angeles, Calif./Visitmar) came on in relief with a runner on first after the MMA homer, and kept the Buccaneers at bay. He worked out of a jam in the fifth with runners on second and third and one out with a strikeout and a comebacker to the mound.
• Meanwhile Brandeis broke the tie in the top of the fifth thanks to King's first home run of the season, a one-out blast to left-center field. It was the seventh round-tripper of King's career.
• The Judges added two insurance runs in the top of the seventh thanks to a pair of grad transfers, 1B Eddie Zanor (Branford, Conn. / Notre Dame-West Haven) and RH Jake Freed (Vernon Hills, Ill. / Stevenson).
• Decker-Jacoby threw 4.2 innings of work, allowing four hits and no runs. He struck out five and walked two to even his record at 1-1 this season. It was the third win of his career.
• King was the big hitter, going 2-4 with a double, a home run, two run scored and two RBI.

HOW IT HAPPENED, GAME 2

• MMA opened the scoring in Game 2, plating two runs in the first without a hit, thanks to a walk, a hit batter, a passed ball, an infield grounder and a sacrifice fly.
• Brandeis got one back in the top of the second on the first collegiate RBI for first-year LF Tobei Nakajima (Winchester, Mass. / Winchester). The Judges had the bases loaded with one out, but Buccaneer pitcher Case Dwight got back-to-back strikeouts to avoid further trouble.
• The hosts increased their lead to 4-1 on their first hit of the game, a two-run home run by senior Brett Velzis in the third.
• Brandeis got those two runs right back in the next half-inning, thanks to a two-RBI single by Chafin, who got thrown out trying to advance on the throw.
• MMA kept the pressure on the Judges with a run in the bottom of the fifth on a one-out triple and a single by Michael Estrada that made it 5-3.
• Brandeis again responded right away, tying things up in the top of the sixth. After the first two batters reached on a single and a walk, Nakajima attempted to bunt them into scoring position, but the Buccaneers again got the lead runner.
• Chafin followed with a deep fly to center that moved a runner to third. A single down the right field line by CF Aronwald got the Judges within one run. After Aronwald stole second, sophomore DH Alex Kim (Basking Ridge, N.J. / Seton Hall Prep) hit a slow roller to second and hustled down the line to beat the throw, allowing Nakajima to score the tying run.
• Zanor came on in relief from first base in the bottom of the sixth and kept the Buccaneers at bay, allowing just two baserunners over the next three frames.
•  Brandeis had a chance to go ahead in the eighth, but MMA turned a one-out double play to get out of trouble.
• The Judges finally took their first lead of the game in the top of the ninth. Senior Mike Dicenso (Cranston, R.I. / Moses Brown), who took over at first for Zanor, led off with a walk, then was bunted to second. King followed with a double to right-center to put the Judges ahead for the second game in a row. He scored two batters later on a single to center by Freed, a key insurance run that made it 7-5.
• MMA answered in the bottom of the ninth, taking advantage of a one-out hit batter. The Bucs bunted him to second and got a single down the left-field line to pull within 7-6.
• Another single and a walk loaded the bases for the home team, but graduate student Marc Maestri (Katonah, N.Y. / Somers) coaxed a grounder to first, beating the MMA runner to the bag and securing the save, his first of the season and the fifth of his career.
• Zanor (1-0) earned his first win in a Brandeis uniform with 3.2 innings of three-hit relief, allowing one earned run and striking out four with a walk and a hit batter. It was his second career win and first since 2022 with Wesleyan University.
• Offensively, Freed was the team's lone multiple hitter, going 2-4 with two runs scored and the game-winning RBI. King's ninth-inning double was the team's only extra-base hit in Game 2.
• MMA's Velzis went 2-5 with a run scored and three RBI on the day. Brenden Baiardi took the loss in relief, allowing three hits and two runs in three innings, walking one without a strikeout to fall to 0-2 on the season.

UP NEXT

• The Judges hope to open their home campaign on Tuesday afternoon at 3:30 p.m. against Eastern Nazarene College.