April 24, 2009
WALTHAM, Mass. - The Endicott College baseball team was on the wrong end of a career day as Brandeis University junior Drew Brzozowski (Concord, Mass.) struck out a career-high 10 Endicott batters, throwing 8.1 innings of three-hit ball as the Judges blanked the Gulls, 4-0, on Stein Diamond today. The Gulls drop to 15-20 this year while Brandeis improves to 15-19 with the win.
Brandeis got all the scoring they would need in the fourth inning with two runs on three hits. After rookie centerfielder Sean O'Hare (Southampton, Mass.) singled, stole second and moved to third on a ground-out, junior designated-hitter Drake Livada (Cape Elizabeth, Maine) kept up his hot streak with an RBI double. He scored two batters later on a double by junior second baseman Jon O'Brion (Portland, Maine). For Livada, it was his sixth-straight multi-hit game, raising his batting average from .290 to .367 in that span.
The Judges added runs in the sixth and eighth innings without a hit. In the sixth, a walk, two hit batters and an error brought home sophomore Pat Nicholson (East Walpole, Mass.). In the eighth, after back-to-back walks, Artie Posch (Hopedale, Mass.) tagged and scored from second base as Endicott's Alex Judge (Wilton, Conn.) made a fine diving catch on a line drive off the bat of O'Hare.
Endicott got three of their four hits by rookie Benjamin Petrides (Belchertown, Mass.), including a seventh-inning double while Petrides also stole a base. Sophomore Michael Drinkwater (Hamilton, Mass.) suffered the loss for the Gulls, going 3.2 innings and giving up four hits and two earned runs. He fanned two and did not walk a batter.
Brzozowski, whose earlier career-high was eight strikeouts, retired the side in order in five of the eight innings he completed and struck out the side in the second. He had one walk and hit a batter, but did not allow a runner past second base. With the win, Brzozowski improves to 5-1 in seven starts this season.
Endicott closes out their regular-season with a TCCC twin-bill tomorrow against Nichols College, also at 12:00 p.m. Brandeis is next in action on Sunday afternoon when they host the defending national champions, No. 6 Trinity College, at 12:00 p.m.