Facing the top two teams in New England, fifth-ranked Amherst suffered two late-game losses to push the Jeffs' record to 15-6 with nine games to play. Hosting second-ranked Eastern Connecticut State University, Amherst fell behind 2-0 after an RBI single in the third and a solo homer in the fourth. But the Jeffs rallied after sophomore Hugh Quattlebaum (Andover, MA) reached 1st on the Warrior's lone error of the game. The third-baseman cut the lead to one on a long single by senior Josh Carroll (Winchester, MA), and the leftfielder would tie the match at 2-2 at the end of six. Rookie shortstop Jordan Krall (Encino, CA) tripled in the bottom of the seventh, and a sacrifice fly by senior co-captain Mike Sullivan (Andover, MA) gave Amherst its first lead of the game, 3-2. But the Warriors fought back in the top of the eighth, notching a pair of singles to lead off the inning. A three-run homer rounded out scoring as Eastern Connecticut took home a 5-3 victory.
Traveling to top-ranked Brandeis, the Jeffs twice fought back from one-run deficits before taking their first lead in the eighth. Junior Michael St. Clair (East Longmeadow, MA) singled to lead off the fourth for the tying run and to extend his hitting streak to ten games, as he has hit safely in all but two games this season. Carroll singled Krall home in the top of the seventh to re-tie the game at 2-2. Greg Berchelmann (St. Louis, MO) walked to lead off the eighth, and the DH rounded home plate for the lead after pinch hitter Tim Kepner (Gwynedd Valley, PA) pounded a long single to drive in the go-ahead run. But Brandeis tied the match in the bottom of the eighth and, after Amherst had stranded its lead-off man in the top of the ninth, the Judges held onto their No. 1 ranking with the game-winning run in the bottom of the ninth.
Hitting: 28 or more at bats Pitching Statistics
AB H HR RBI BA IP H K ERA
Michael St. Clair '99 77 36 7 23 .468
Whit Griffinger '00 32 13 2 9 .406
Hugh Quattlebaum '00 81 31 5 16 .383
Greg Berchelmann '99 72 27 2 14 .375
Josh Carroll '98 69 22 1 11 .319
Mike Sullivan '98 76 24 2 14 .316
Mike Grant '99 54 17 0 9 .315
Jordan Krall '01 61 19 0 13 .311
Dan Blednick '98 50 14 0 15 .289
Geoff Spies '98 36 9 0 8 .250
Mike Sweeney '99 42.0 39 38 2.57
George Gumpert '99 2.1 3 2 3.86
Jon Cross '98 34.1 39 27 4.19
Kevin Downes '01 5 4 0 2 .800 15.1 17 13 5.28
Mike Spirito '98 5.0 4 4 5.40
Graham Callaghan '99 26.1 43 22 5.47
Andy Ditchfield '99 26.2 31 25 5.74
Dave Siegle '01 8.2 13 11 12.46
Team Totals 679 233 19 144 .343 160.2 189 142 4.82
Opponent Totals 664 189 15 91 .285 157.0 233 85 8.20
Current Record: 15-6, 14-5 v. Division III
Last Week: Eastern Connecticut, L 3-5
at Brandeis, L 3-4
This Week: Thu Apr 23 at Westfield State, 3:30pm
Sat Apr 25 at Wesleyan (2), 1:00pm
