LAKELAND, FL – A three-run homer by Thomas Wheeler '12 (Minnetonka, MN) in the top of the ninth inning made things interesting, but the Amherst College baseball team couldn't complete the comeback and ultimately suffered a 7-6 loss to Babson College. 

The Lord Jeffs (2-2) will continue the RussMatt Central Florida Invitational when they take on Stevens Institute of Technology Tuesday at 9:30 a.m. at Chain of Lakes Park in Winter Haven, Fla. 

Hayden Metz '12 (Ridgefield, CT) took the loss (0-1) for Amherst by allowing five runs in 5.1 innings of work. First-year Cam Windham (Washington, DC) struck out two batters and surrendered a pair of runs in 2.0 innings, with fellow newcomer Eric Kotin (New York, NY) accounting for the final two-thirds of relief.

The first few innings featured a back-and-forth affair. Babson got on the board in the bottom of the first, but Amherst answered with a tying run in the top of the second. The Beavers held a 3-1 lead after three innings, but the Jeffs once again came back to knot the score with two runs in the fourth. 

A solo home run in the bottom of the fourth would give Babson the lead for good, as the Beavers scored once in the sixth, seventh and eighth to escape Wheeler's three-run blast unharmed. Wheeler was 2-for-5 with a double and four RBIs.

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