Springfield College Baseball Rallies For Walk-Off Win Over Brandeis, 9-8

Photo is courtesy of Springfield College

Springfield, Mass. - Down 8-5 heading into the bottom of the ninth inning, the Springfield College baseball team rallied for four runs in the frame and came back to defeat Brandeis in non-conference action on Monday afternoon at Berry-Allen Field.

With the win, Springfield is now 9-12-1 on the season, while the Judges fall to 8-15-1 overall.

Senior Jack Baldwin (Southampton, Mass.) got the nod for Springfield, and pitched 6.1 innings, giving up just nine hits and one earned run while fanning three Brandeis batters. Sophomore Joey Gamache (Lebanon, Conn.) came on in relief and picked up his first collegiate victory, as he pitched 2.2 frames, giving up five hits and one earned run.

For the Judges, Luke Zeccola (Garden City, N.Y.) got the start and only made it through 0.2 innings,
but Daniel Schupper (Villanova, Pa.) came on to pitch 5.1 innings, giving up four hits and three runs, while the combination of Anthony Nomakeo (Westfield, Mass.) and Sam Miller (Sudbury, Mass.) finished off the game for the visitors.

With the bases loaded and one out, Peter Marsicano (Allentown, N.J.) hit a chopper to short, which snuck through the short stop's legs, allowing Corey Wilcox (Uncasville, Conn.) and Peter Detrik (Fairfield, Conn.) to score, before the ball got past the left fielder, plating Brandon Drabinski (Lisbon, Conn.) to complete the rally and give the Pride the victory.

Wilcox was an impressive 3-for-4 at the plate, as he collected his 86th career hit, and JP Peters (Guilford, Conn.) was 2-for-4 with an RBI in the win.

Springfield struck first in the bottom of the first inning, when Zecolla walked the first three batters, before Peters grounded into a double play, but Billy Peterson (West Wareham, Mass.) crossed home to give the Pride an early 1-0 lead.

After the Judges evened the score in the top of the second, the Pride rattled off three more runs, including a sacrifice fly from Evan Moore (Portsmouth, R.I.) to score Peterson to make it 4-1, Springfield, after two.

Brandeis would cut its deficit to a pair in the top of the third inning when Liam O'Connor (Avon, Conn.) came home on an RBI single from Bavly, before adding another in the top of the fifth when Rob Trenk (West Orange, N.J.) crossed home to make it a one-run game.

The Judges would take a 5-4 lead with a pair of runs in the sixth, when Zeccola and Max Hart (Montville, Conn.) came around to score on a Springfield error, before pushing its lead to three in the top of the seventh, when Ryan Healy (Carlsbad, Calif.) and Greg Heineman (Wilbraham, Mass.) each picked up RBI singles to make it 7-4, Brandeis.

The Pride made it a two-run game in the bottom half of the frame, when Peters laced a ball to left field, which was caught, but Nick LeDuc (Belchertown, Mass.) was able to tag from third to make it 7-5, Judges, after seven.

Brandeis added its eighth run on a two out triple from Bavly, when the freshman roped a ball off the right-center field fence to score O'Connor from first base, thus giving the visitors an 8-5 lead.

The bottom of the ninth rally began with back-to-back singles from TJ Fiorino (Somers, N.Y.) and Wilcox, before Peters singled to center, loading the bases. With Drabinski at the plate, Nomakeo threw a wild pitch to score Fiorino from third, before being replaced by Miller, who walked Drabinski to load the bases once more, setting up Marsicano's heroics.