ST. LOUIS, Mo. – The Brandeis University baseball team got a pair of fine pitching performances from graduate students
Eddie Zanor (Branford, Conn./Notre Dame-West Haven) and
Ryan Antrim (Lake Bluff, Ill//Lake Forest), but the Judges couldn't get the bats going against the host Washington University Bears in a University Athletic Association doubleheader, falling 4-0 and 1-0.
TEAM RECORDS
- Brandeis: 10-24, 2-14 UAA.
- Washington U.: 22-13, 8-8 UAA.
HOW IT HAPPENED, GAME 1 (WashU 4, Brandeis 0)
- Zanor went 5.1 innings in the opener, allowing just three hits and two earned runs. He struck out five and walked four, but fell to 0-6 on the season. First-year Rohan Shah (Hicksville, N.Y./Hicksville) came on in relief and threw 2.2 innings of two-hit relief, giving up two runs with two walks and two strikeouts.
- The game was scoreless through three-and-a-half innings before WashU broke through in the bottom of the fourth. A walk and a single put runners on first and second with none out. The Bears bunted the runners into scoring position and broke the ice on a grounder to second by Cooper Greene. A walk and a stolen base got two back in scoring position, but Zanor got out of it with strikeout.
- In the sixth, WashU doubled their lead. Shane Pellegrino drew a one-out walk and stole second. He scored on Greene's triple. Shah came in to face the next two hitters, getting two grounders to short that kept Greene from scoring.
- The Bears scored two more insurance runs in the seventh on a bases-loaded walk and a sacrifice fly.
- Offensively, the Judges had four hits, with their best chance to score coming in the fourth. Sophomore LF Henry Aronwald (Rye Brook, N.Y./Trinity Pawling) singled with one out and stole second. A hit by Jake Freed (Vernon Hills, Ill./Stevenson) put runners on the corners, but WashU got a liner to second to escape the threat.
- Bear pitchers retired 12 straight Brandeis hitters between the fifth and eighth innings before sophomore CF Connor Crowley (Guilford, Conn./Notre Dame-West Haven) led off the ninth with a single, but a 5-4-3 double play dashed Brandeis's hopes of spoiling the shutout bid.
- WashU's Isaac Zhang went the distance, improving to 3-1 on the season. He allowed just four hits with no walks and seven strikeouts.
HOW IT HAPPENED, GAME 2 (WashU 1, Brandeis 0)
- In the second game, Antrim went five innings and gave up four hits and one earned run. He struck out three and walked just one, falling to 1-1 on the season.
- The Bears scored the only run of the game in the fifth. After a leadoff walk, Antrim got the first out before a hit-and-run single put runners on the corners. WashU's Kevin Stevens then laid down a successful squeeze bunt, plating Will Taigen.
- First-year relievers Jack Sweeney (Waltham, Mass./Austin Prep) and Brady Lane (Hingham, Mass./Boston College HS) tossed three innings of two-hit relief to give the Judges a chance to come back.
- The Judges drew seven walks against three Bear pitchers, and they loaded the bases in the second and sixth thanks to errors and hit batters, but could not get a run home, as WashU pitchers struck out 14.
- Freed had the team's lone hit, a single to center in the second inning.
- Levi Gingerich earned the win for WashU with six innings of one-hit ball to improve to 1-2. He struck out seven and walked five. Owen Block went two innings for the save, getting five of his six outs by way of the strikeout.
UP NEXT
- The Judges return home for a four-game UAA series against Case Western Reserve next weekend, starting on Friday afternoon at 3 p.m. with Brandeis's annual Pride Game.