An alumnus of Columbus Academy, Darren Bates played for the school's varsity baseball and football teams and served as a volunteer coach with Columbus' Second and Seven Foundation. In his senior year of high school in 2017, Darren Bates committed to playing baseball for Brandeis University.
The 2018 collegiate baseball season began in March, and the Brandeis Judges played its season-opening game against the third-ranked UMass Boston. Despite receiving quality pitching from senior Sean O'Neill and sophomore Greg Tobin, the Judges lost 4-1. UMass opened the scoring with three first-inning runs. O'Neill struck out UMass' leadoff hitter, but Chris Fowler took advantage of back-to-back errors with a two-run double. Fowler later scored on a single by Nick Herzog to make it a 3-0 game after the first inning.
The Judges lone run came on a double from freshman Dan Frey that scored Isaac Fossas from second base. Frey had another impressive outing in Brandeis' second game of the season with a double and a triple, but the Judges fell short once again with a 7-4 loss to Salem State.
