The Brandeis men's baseball team salvaged a rough week of spring training in Florida, defeating Washington University of St. Louis 4-3 on Thursday. The win was the Judges' first in six attempts and closed the spring season on a high note.
Zach Golden '06 had two hits and one RBI, while Dan McIntosh '04 and Chris Navis '05 each had two hits. Tim Dunphy '06 picked up the win for the Judges, pitching a full nine innings and striking out four. The win over the Bears was scant consolation after the Judges dropped the first five games of their trip in Florida.
"We got down there and came out cold," Dunphy said. "It showed in our defense and it showed in our hitting. We lost a couple of close games."
The Judges opened the trip with a 6-4 loss to Emory University. Extra-inning losses followed, 7-6 at the hands of Rochester and 8-7 at the hands Case Western, both in 10 innings. The Judges lost to Emory and Rochester once more before coming up with a win against WashU.
"[Against WashU], our hitting was there, the pitching was there," Dunphy said. "We need to focus more on playing as a team, rather than individual performances. Everyone needs to be on the same page, and we'll develop more of a team chemistry.
"We're kind of an inexperienced team," co-captain Lars Borssen '04 said. "We need to come together as a whole and put some wins together. We need to work on our pitching and defense, because the hitting will always be there."
Borssen, Golden and Ben Dashefsky '07 all played stellar from the plate last week. Golden is batting at a .458 clip, follwed closely by Borssen at .400 and Dashefsky at .385.
"Ben has been playing great," Borssen said. "We could tell when we first saw him he could hit the ball. But as a team, when we do get a hit, we don't have guys in front of us on base. We haven't gotten that clutch hit. We have to get the little things done."
The team will look to rebound from the tough trip in Florida, hopefully having shaken off whatever preseason jitters were there. The team has an entire week of practice before opening the regular season on Mar. 23 at home against Wentworth Tech. In the meantime, the team will look to the leadership of the seniors.
"As leaders, the seniors are there to keep us together," Dunphy said. "Borssen and Dan McIntosh are the leaders on the field, while Russ Stutsky ['04] looks over the pitching staff. They really look over us.