MILTON, Mass. - Curry College topped visiting Brandeis University in non-conference baseball action Wednesday afternoon in Milton.
The Colonels improve to 16-10 overall and are set to host Framingham State University on Friday at 3:30 p.m. The Judges fall to 11-17 on the season and will travel to Gordon College on Thursday for a rescheduled game starting at 3:30 p.m.
The scoring began in the top half of the first inning when junior Liam O'Connor (Avon, Conn.) singled to left starting things for the Judges. Sophomore Ryan Tettemer (Westfield, Mass.) would bring O'Connor home with a two-run home run off starting pitcher freshman Nick Kinsella (Hanson, Mass.). Freshman Nick Falkson (Dedham, Mass.), junior Ryan Healy (Carlsbad, Calif.), and freshman Ryan Pocock (Westford, Mass.) would string together three hits, loading the bases for senior Kyle Brenner (Brookfield, Mass.). Kinsella would get him to ground into a double play however, only allowing one run (Falkson) to score with the bases loaded. Kinsella would get a strikeout to end the inning but not before Brandeis jumped ahead with a three-run lead.
Curry responded with a big inning of its own in the bottom half of the first with junior John Arens (Milton, Mass.) starting things up with a single to right. Arens advanced on a walk to freshman Anthony Sciaudone (York, Maine) and would advance to third on a wild pitch during freshman Evan Morris' at bat. Morris would go on to reach on a fielder's choice, driving in Arens but Sciaudone would be forced out at second base. Morris would advance on an errant throw by starting pitcher Sam Miller (Sudbury, Mass.) to first base in a pickoff attempt. Junior Phil Perez (West Covina, Calif.) would walk bringing up sophomore Nick Crivello (Blackstone, Mass.) Crivello would single down the right field line, scoring Morris and advancing Perez to third. With runners on the corners, sophomore Brian Burke (Swampscott, Mass.) doubled to center scoring Perez and advancing Crivello to third. The threat would stop there, but the Colonels tied the game up after one full inning.
Curry would get on the board again in the bottom of the third with Perez starting things up with a single to left center. Crivello followed getting hit by a pitch and after a Burke strikeout, senior Derek Pizarro (Cambridge, Mass.) would drive in Perez with a single to left center putting the Colonels ahead by one.
Junior Kyle Connors (Stoughton, Mass.) started things in the bottom of the fourth with an infield single. He would be brought all the way around on Arens' double down the left field line. Arens would also advance to third on the throw, but would be caught stealing home on a failed suicide squeeze for the first out of the inning. Curry would get two more runners on in the inning, but they were not brought around, and the inning ended with the score 5-3 in favor of the Colonels.
Curry would add insurance runs in the subsequent half-inning, with Pizarro starting things with a single. Freshman William De La Cruz (Bronx, N.Y.) then got hit with a pitch, putting two runners on. Connors would reach again this time with a single to left loading the bases. Arens responded driving in Pizarro with an RBI single to right center, keeping the bases loaded. All runners would move up a base on a wild pitch and De La Cruz would score adding another run to the Colonels' total.
Brandeis would respond in the top of the sixth starting with a double off the bat of senior Kyle Brenner (Brookfield, Mass.). Junior Greg Heineman (Wilbraham, Mass.) followed up with a single, putting runners on the corners and ending Kinsella's outing. Sophomore Vincent LoPriore (Boston, Mass.) would come in and let up an RBI groundout to sophomore Remy Pontes (Arlington, Mass.) driving in Brenner. After a walk, O'Connor would single and score Heineman bringing the Judges back to a two-run deficit after five and a half (7-5).
Neither team would muster more than two hits in the following innings, and the final score was 7-5. Kinsella was handed the win giving up all five earned runs on 10 hits and one walk while striking out three in 5 1/3 innings pitched. LoPriore ended up going two full, only giving up three hits and two walks. Sophomore Alex McLean (Eliot, Maine) would get the save after going an inning and two thirds only giving up one hit.
Brandeis' starter Miller would only finish one-third of an inning letting up three earned runs on three hits and two walks. Freshman Justin Gallanty (Westport, Conn.) would take the loss going 2 2/3 letting up only one earned run on three hits and a punch out. Senior Brent Edmunds (North Hampton, N.H.) would pitch for an inning giving up an earned run on three hits and a walk as well. Sophomore Liam Coughlin (Townsend, Mass.) got the ball for only 1/3 of an inning allowing two earned on three hits. Freshman Sean O'Neill (Reading, Mass.) finished out the last three and two thirds giving up two hits and a walk while striking out a pair of Colonels.
