BANGOR, Maine – Third-seeded Brandeis University rallied for six runs in the bottom of the seventh inning to send fourth-seeded Eastern Connecticut State University to an opening 10-9 loss in the first round of the 2021 NCAA Division III Bangor, ME Regional Tournament Friday at O'Keefe Field on the Husson University campus.
 
On the brink of its tenth straight win, Eastern (30-3) carried a 9-4 lead into the bottom of the seventh before Brandeis (14-1) struck for six runs on five hits, two walks and an infield error, walking off with the win on junior Alyssa Renskers' two-out single through the left side that scored senior Jolie Fujita from third. The Judges scored the tying runs before there was an out in the seventh. Junior righty Brooke Matyasovsky (Orange) got a swinging strikeout and comebacker for the first two outs before Renskers' game-winner.
 
Eastern faces top-seeded host Husson University (28-1) Saturday at 10 a.m., needing a win to remain alive. Husson blasted sixth-seeded Endicott College, 12-4, in six innings in Friday's first game.
 
Down 2-0, Eastern scored eight runs in the middle innings Friday and tacked on another in the sixth on a hit and two errors to move out to a 9-3 lead. Brandeis got one back in the bottom of the sixth before winning it in its six-run seventh.
 
Five of Eastern's runs in the game were unearned, thanks to four Brandeis errors.
 
Junior shortstop Julia SanGiovanni (East Haven) and sophomore utility player Alyssa Vilchez (Brampton, Ont.) each drove in two runs for Eastern, with Matyasovsky scoring three times and driving in a run and junior leftfielder Laura Zenk (Hermon, ME) reaching three times with two hits and walk. She scored once. Matyasovsky singled for her 100^th career hit with one out in a three-run third inning third and eclipsed that milestone with an RBI single in a four-run fourth. She came around to score in both innings.

When Eastern scored what looked to be two insurance runs in the top of the sixth that made it 9-3, senior rightfielder Alexis Tyrrell (Torrington) doubled to lead off the inning -- the 86th double for the team this year that broke a 13-year-old record. SanGiovanni's RBI double in the four-run fourth had tied the team record of 85.
 
All-New England Region leftfielder Alex Cohen, the No. 3 hitter, drove in four runs with three hits and Fujita, the leadoff hitter, reached four times and scored three runs with two singles, a triple and walk. Freshman lefty Rebecca Guerci  was credited with her fourth win without a loss in place of first-team all-region junior righty Sydney Goldman. Goldman allowed six runs (four earned) on four hits and four walks in 3 1/3 innings. Guerci was charged with three (unearned) runs on five hits.
 
The MVP of last week's Little East Conference tournament, Vilchez made her second career start Friday but was lifted after giving up two runs in the first on run-scoring hits by Fujita and Cohen in place of junior righty Carley Stoker (Sandy Creek, NY). Stoker took a 9-4 lead into the seventh but was lifted in favor of Matyasovsky after walking the first two batters of the inning.