MEDFORD, Mass. – The Amherst College baseball team dropped a pair of games in a non-conference doubleheader at NESCAC rival Tufts University on Sunday at Gittleman Park. The Jumbos won the seven-inning opener, 4-3, and followed with a 4-1 win in the nine-inning nightcap.
The Mammoths fell to 8-11 this season while the Jumbos improved to 10-11. The game does not impact the conference standings as the Mammoths and Jumbos play in different divisions in the NESCAC.
The Mammoths are back in action on Wednesday (April 9), visiting Western Massachusetts rival Westfield State for a 3:30 p.m. contest.
GAME 1: Tufts 4, Amherst 3
* First-year left fielder
Leo Foust opened the day with a solo home run down the left field line in the top of the first inning as the second batter of the game. It was the second collegiate home run for Foust, coming four days after his first.
* The Jumbos tied the score at 1-1 in the bottom of the second when first-year third baseman James Henshon led off the inning with a triple and scored on a groundout by junior second baseman Jesse McCullough.
* The Mammoths used three straight hits in the top of the fourth to take the lead. With senior first baseman
Jack Sampedro on first base, sophomore right fielder
Charlie LaFreniere had a base hit to put runners in the corners with two outs. First-year designated hitter
Justin Orridge followed with a base hit to score Sampedro and sophomore second baseman
Yoon Chae drove in LaFreniere with a base hit.
* After graduate student catcher Connor Brala scored on a wild pitch in the fifth to get the Jumbos back within one, Tufts loaded the bases with two outs in the bottom of the seventh. With the game hanging in the balance, senior right fielder Cooper Smith delivered a two-run walk-off double to lift the Jumbos to victory.
GAME 2: Tufts 4, Amherst 1
* The Mammoths took an early lead once again in the nightcap as a leadoff walk to junior second baseman
Tyler McCord in the top of the second inning turned into a run for Amherst with a fielder's choice off the bat of Orridge scoring McCord from third base.
* The Jumbos quickly erased that lead with a pair of runs in the bottom of the second inning. A leadoff double from Henshon set the table for a sacrifice fly from sophomore first baseman A.J. Lysko and an RBI single from graduate student shortstop Ozzie Fleischer gave Tufts a 2-1 lead.
* Senior center fielder Henry Fleckner and junior designated hitter Owen McKiernan drove in runs later in the game for the Jumbos while senior pitcher Jacob Lapp stymied the Amherst bats, allowing only one hit in a complete-game effort.
