By Spencer Noon '13
AMHERST, MA – The Amherst College baseball team piled on 19 hits en route to a 14-2 NESCAC West victory over Williams College Friday afternoon at Memorial Field. The Lord Jeffs scored five runs in the second inning and added nine in the fifth, batting around the lineup each time.
Max McKenna '11 (Lexington, MA) improved to 4-0 by tossing his third complete game of the season, allowing only two runs on four hits and four strikeouts. McKenna also hit one batter and walked three, but he was supported by a Lord Jeff defense that turned three double plays and did not commit a single error on the day.
Bob Cook '13 (Winnetka, IL), Taiki Kasuga '14 (New York, NY) and Brian Merrigan '11 (Holbrook, MA) had three hits apiece and combined for seven RBIs and seven runs scored to lead the Lord Jeffs (16-6, 6-1 NESCAC West). Williams (18-8, 2-5), meanwhile, had only four hits in the game and committed five errors in the field. Cameron Susk stood out by going 1-for-2 with two RBIs and two walks.
Harry Marino took the loss for the Ephs after allowing five earned runs on five hits in the first 1.1 innings. Dan Grossman and Dan Marcet allowed a combined nine runs on 13 hits in 3.2 innings of relief, while Tom Stephens surrendered only one hit in the final three innings.
Amherst took a 5-0 lead in the bottom of the second, which was highlighted by a three-run homer to left field by Cook, as well as RBI-singles from Mike Samela '12 (Westport, CT) and Merrigan.
Williams got two back in the top of the third when Susk delivered a two-RBI single up the middle to score Matt Kastner and Stephen Maier, who walked and doubled, respectively.
Leading the charge during the nine-run fifth inning were run-scoring doubles by Kasuga, Kevin Heller '12 (Brooklyn, NY) and Scott Shaffer '11 (Boulder, CO), as the Lord Jeffs took advantage of three Williams errors and sent 14 batters to the plate in the frame.
Finishing with two hits apiece for the Lord Jeffs were Heller, Samela, Nolan Stewart '13 (New Canaan, CT) and Jose Espinosa '11 (Ridgefield, CT), with Samela and Espinosa each driving in two runs. Heller bumped his hitting streak to 15 games, while Kasuga's is now at 12.
The Lord Jeffs and Ephs will begin a doubleheader Saturday at 1 p.m. in Williamstown. Williams will be eliminated from postseason contention with a single loss tomorrow, while Amherst is looking to keep pace with Middlebury, which defeated Hamilton twice on Friday to improve to 7-4 in conference play.
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