This past weekend was eventful for the baseball and softball teams of Case Western Reserve University. The baseball team commenced conference play at home against Brandeis University while the softball team hit the road for a series against Muskingum University.

Baseball

The baseball team hosted Brandeis for a four-game series at Nobby’s Ballpark from Friday, March 27 to Sunday, March 29. CWRU wound up splitting their UAA opening series, winning the second and third games, but losing the first and fourth.

The first game was notably rough for the Spartans as they fell 13-2 in eight innings to the Judges. Brandeis jumped ahead to an early lead over CWRU with three runs in the first inning and steadily built on their advantage throughout the match, outhitting the Spartans 14-7. While graduate student and first baseman Eli Westrick and fourth-year catcher Sean Donahue each recorded two hits in the game, it proved to not be enough to overcome the Judges’ momentum throughout the game.

The tide would turn for CWRU during Game 2 on Saturday as they found their footing to achieve a 3-2 walk-off victory over Brandeis. The Judges took a 2-0 lead by the end of the third inning, but they failed to score any further runs for the rest of the game as the Spartans delivered a more composed pitching performance. Notably, second-year pitcher Charlie Griffith kept the Judges scoreless between the fourth and seventh innings on his way to striking out a career-high nine batters over the course of the contest.

The series continued later that day with Game 3, as the Spartans kept up their momentum from earlier in the day to beat the Judges 2-1. Though all of CWRU’s scoring came in the first inning, the team’s pitchers largely refused to let Brandeis score any runs; the only run of the match for the Judges came via a sacrifice fly in the sixth inning.

Come Sunday, Brandeis picked up the pace for the fourth and final match as they trounced CWRU 8-2 to leave both teams with a 2-2 record in UAA play so far this season. While the Spartans totaled 10 hits during the contest, they struggled to convert these hits beyond a pair of runs in the bottom of the third inning. Though CWRU may have come up short overall, their pitchers were able to strike out 17 batters during the game—tied for the second-most in program history. Of those strikeouts, 11 came from second-year Eric Colgrove, marking the highest such tally to date in his career.

The Spartans will look to build upon its performance this weekend as they travel to Atlanta to take on Emory University in a four-game series starting on Friday, April 3.

Softball

The softball team traveled to New Concord, Ohio on March 28 to take on Muskingum. Their two-game series was originally set to be played in Cleveland, but unfavorable weather conditions in the area necessitated the move to Muskingum’s home field. The Spartans ultimately split their schedule, dropping the opener 4-7 before rebounding with a 7-3 victory in the second contest.

The team jumped into action during the first match with a run scored by third-year infielder Karen Potts on a double from fellow fourth-year infielder Elizabeth Berry in the bottom of the first inning. Muskingum followed suit with a home run in the top of the second inning, but CWRU promptly responded by taking advantage of errors by the Fighting Muskies to score three points in the bottom of the second inning. These three points would be the last scored by the Spartans, however, as Muskingum cut into their deficit with one run in the third inning before scoring five unanswered points in the top of the sixth inning to take a lead that would remain for the duration of the match.

CWRU was quick to bounce back from this setback in Game 2, with Potts scoring the first run of the contest via a double steal in the bottom of the first inning. Though Muskingum responded at the top of the third inning, the Spartans went on to score three more points through the top of the fifth inning thanks to key plays by Berry, second-year infielder Kate Coonan, first-year infielder Natalie Ching and first-year catcher Sophia Becker. From this point on, the Spartans maintained a steady lead that the Muskies never caught up to, securing their win.

Next up for the softball team is a three-game series against Emory University following the postponement of a doubleheader against the University of Mount Union. The series at home against Emory commences on April 3 at 3 p.m. at Mather Park.