Brandeis Rallies Past Baseball

WALTHAM, Mass. - Rob Trenk (West Orange, N.J.) and senior Connor Doyle (Avon, Conn.) went for a combined 4-for-7 and drove in four of Brandeis' seven runs as the Judges' picked up a 7-4 non-conference triumph over the Wentworth Institute of Technology baseball team on Wednesday night at Stein Diamond.

With the win, Brandeis improves to 17-15 while Wentworth drops to 10-21.

Wentworth put the game's first run on the board in the top of the second frame and began the inning with a single through the right side from senior Johnny Ryan (Brant Rock, Mass.). After Ryan advanced to second on freshman Jake Smith's (Orange, Conn.) infield single to third, freshman Matt Smith (Horseheads, N.Y.) plated Ryan on an RBI single to right field.

After the Leopards took a 1-0 advantage, Brandeis came back with a run of its own in the bottom of the third to even the score at 1-all. Trenk sent a single down the right field line to begin the inning and moved up to second on a wild pitch. With Trenk on third, senior Liam O'Connor (Avon, Conn.) brought in the first Judges' run as he snuck a RBI single through the left side.

With the game squared at 1-1, the Judges' took a 2-1 lead in the fourth. Senior Ryan Healy (Carlsbad, Calif.) got on base with a single through the right side and later scored the second Judges' run on Trenk's single that sailed down the right field line.

Brandeis' 2-1 lead remained intact until Wentworth came up to bat in its half of the fifth and plated three runs to regain the 4-2 lead. Sophomore Tim Elrick (Buzzards Bay, Mass.) started off the fifth with a single through the right side. With Elrick on third and sophomore Tyler Weninger (Chandler, Ariz.) on second, junior Jordan Burst (Jackson, N.J.) plated both runners to take the 3-2 lead. The Leopards then tacked on a run on junior Jimmy Temte's (Northborough, Mass.) single to center to stretch the lead to 4-2.

Two straight walks and an infield bunt allowed the Judges' to load up the bases with no outs in Brandeis' half of the sixth. After Trenk's sacrifice fly into deep center field cut Wentworth's lead down to one, the Judges' evened up the score at 4-all on another sacrifice fly to left field from junior Jay Schaff (Cheshire, Conn.).

Wentworth pitching allowed Brandeis three runs on three hits in the bottom of the seventh to give the Judges' the 7-4 lead. Sophomore Luke Zeccola (Garden City, N.Y.) sacrifice bunt put Brandeis' ahead 5-4 and was followed up with back-to-back doubles from Doyle and senior Max Hart (Montville, Conn.) to put the Judges' ahead by three runs.

The Leopards' gained a pivotal scoring opportunity to pull ahead in the eighth frame, but could not capitalize.

Temte had the lone Wentworth hit in the inning and reached on a single into right. Senior Sam McManus (Hopkinton, N.H.) drew a walk and advanced Temte to second with no outs in the inning. Brandeis got two big outs on a ground ball and strikeout, but loaded up the bases on a walk to junior Christian Ferri (Bloomfield, N.J.). The Judges' got out of the bases loaded jam with a strikeout to hold their 7-4 lead after eight frames.

Junior Liam Coughlin (Townsend, Mass.) started for the Judges' and went 4.1 innings as he allowed four runs on eight hits with two walks and three strikeouts, while freshman Daniel Shupper (Villanova, Pa.) picked up the win (2-0) and Healy picked up his fifth save. Trenk and Doyle paced the Judges' and went a combined 4-for-7 with a double, two runs scored and four RBI, while Healy went 2-for-4 with three runs scored.

Freshman Ben Rexford (Lancaster, N.H.) pitched one inning and allowed three runs on three hits while he struck out one and walked two in the loss (1-3). Burst led the Black & Gold and went 2-for-5 with one run scored and two RBI.

Wentworth heads to Mass. Maritime on Thursday at 3:30 p.m.