April 20, 2004 

HARTFORD, CT - In a rematch of last year's NESCAC Tournament title game, the Amherst College baseball team dropped a 10-5 non-league decision at 12th-ranked Trinity College (23-4) on Tuesday. The visiting Jeffs (10-11) squeaked out just five hits and used four pitchers in the loss. 

Amherst took a 2-0 lead in the opening frame on an RBI single by junior Joe Houkal (Boulder, CO) and a sac fly by senior Matt Potter (Durham, NC). Trinity answered with a three-run flurry in the bottom of the second, keyed by a two-out, two-run single by rookie Tim Bourdon (Simsbury, CT), and tacked on seven more runs over the next five innings, as junior Jeff Natale (Hamden, CT) homered, doubled and drove in four runs during the barrage. 

Trailing 6-2 in the top of the fifth, Amherst battled back with three runs on back-to-back doubles by Potter and sophomore Dave Levinson (Philadelphia, PA), knocking Trinity starter Matt Krant (Portsmouth, NH) out of the game with no outs and a man on second. But rookie reliever Jon Rappaport (Longmeadow, MA) came on and retired the next three hitters in order to hold the lead for the Bantams. Rappaport was credited with the win, upping his pitching record to 2-1 with four hitless, scoreless innings. 

First-year starter Nick Kehoe (Washington Depot, CT) pitched into the fourth inning for Amherst before giving way to classmate Dan Schwartz (New York, NY), sophomore Brant Ford (Fabius, NY) and junior Ed Imperatore (Tenafly, NJ). Kehoe took the loss, evening his record at 1-1. Imperatore was perfect in 1.1 innings of relief. 

Box Score/Play-by-Play