WILLIAMSTOWN, MA – The Amherst College baseball team completed a series sweep of Williams College with wins of 7-4 and 8-5 on Sunday, securing the Lord Jeffs their first playoff berth since 2008 while eliminating the Ephs from postseason contention. 

The Lord Jeffs improved to 18-6 overall and 8-1 in the NESCAC West, while the Ephs dropped to 18-10 (2-7). Amherst can clinch the West Division's top seed—along with hosting rights for the NESCAC Championship—with a single win over Wesleyan next weekend. 

Fred Shepard '14 (Amherst, MA) improved to 3-2 after earning his most important win of the season, pitching five innings of one-hit, shutout relief to carry the Jeffs in the seven-inning opener. Shepard struck out two and walked a pair in relief of classmate Dylan Driscoll '14 (Mount Airy, MD), who allowed four runs on six hits in the first two innings. 

Williams chalked up two runs against Driscoll in the first inning, but Amherst scored five times in the top of the second after stringing together five singles to start the frame. The Ephs came back with two runs in the second inning to make it a 5-4 game, but the Jeffs added a run in the fifth and one in the seventh. 

Mike Samela '12 (Westport, CT) went 3-for-3, walked, scored one run and drove in another, while Nolan Stewart '13 (New Canaan, CT) was 3-for-4 with an RBI and a run scored. Bob Cook '12 (Winnetka, IL), Kevin Heller '12 (Brooklyn, NY) and Alex Hero '14 (New York, NY) had two hits apiece and each scored once. 

Amherst then got another great outing from Ryan Healy '11 (Westport, CT), who struck out six, walked three and surrendered two earned runs on five hits in the first seven innings of the nightcap. Cam Windham '14 (Washington, DC) got the Jeffs out of a jam and put an end to a Williams comeback attempt in the ninth by retiring the only three batters he faced, earning the save after striking out two Ephs and getting a third to pop up to the catcher. 

The second game was never in doubt, as the Jeffs used a three-run fourth inning to carry a 6-0 lead into the bottom of the fifth. After scoring on a sacrifice fly, a failed pickoff attempt and a bases-loaded walk, Amherst added two runs on a Heller single and made it a 6-0 game when Jose Espinosa '11 (Ridgefield, CT) delivered a base hit to center.

Williams came back with two runs in the fifth, but the Jeffs pushed their lead back to six after a two-out, RBI-double by Thomas Wheeler '12 (Minnetonka, MN) and an RBI-single to center by Stewart in the sixth. The Ephs scored once in the eighth and started to put together a comeback with two runs in the ninth, but they were shut down by Windham. Heller, Wheeler, Stewart and Espinosa each had two hits in the second game, with Wheeler scoring two runs and driving in two more.

Should Amherst, Wesleyan and Middlebury all finish at 8-4 in conference play, the Cardinals would earn the No. 1 seed due to a 5-1 record against the Jeffs and Panthers. Amherst would get the No. 2 seed in that scenario thanks to a head-to-head tiebreaker over Middlebury. 

The Lord Jeffs will next travel to take on Springfield College on Tuesday, Apr. 26, at 4 p.m.

GAME 1 BOX SCORE

GAME 2 BOX SCORE