AUBURNDALE, FL – The Amherst College baseball team used strong pitching performances from Max McKenna '11 (Lexington, MA) and Pat Harris '11 (Rochester, NY) to open its 2011 season with a 5-4 upset win over 15th-ranked UMass Boston Friday night in the RussMatt Central Florida Invitational. 

McKenna (1-0) struck out 10 and allowed only one run in 6.1 innings to earn the win. The Lord Jeffs scored twice in the first inning and never relinquished the lead, but they had to call on Harris after the Beacons put three runs on the board in the eighth. Harris recorded the final out of the eighth and pitched a scoreless ninth to earn the save. 

Amherst got two runs in the first and added three in the seventh, while UMass Boston got one back in the second before rallying in the eighth. Mike Samela '12 (Westport, CT) had a double and two RBIs, Scott Shaffer '11 (Boulder, CO) hit a double and drove in one run, and Dan Pillitteri '13 (Ramsey, NJ) added a pair of RBIs to lead the Lord Jeff offense. 

UMass Boston is the top-ranked team in the Little East Conference preseason coaches' poll, having advanced to last year's College World Series and finished the 2010 season with a 32-17 record.

The Jeffs will play two tomorrow against Worcester State, a team that qualified for last year's NCAA Regional Tournament and finished at 31-11-1 as champions of the MASCAC. The first game is set to begin at 1:30 at Warner Southern University.

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