Courtesy of Castleton State College

CASTLETON, VT – Jeff Keenan (West Hartford, CT) pitched six solid innings and Bob Cook (Winnetka, IL) belted a seventh-inning grand slam to break open a four-run game as Amherst College earned an 11-2 win over Castleton State in non-conference baseball action Tuesday evening. With the win Amherst improves to 12-5, while Castleton falls to 9-15.

Keenan (1-0) went six innings in his second start of the season, allowing two earned runs on three hits and two walks while striking out four. Patrick Riley took the loss for Castleton after pitching two-plus innings, allowing six earned runs on four hits, five walks and three strikeouts.

Castleton struck first when Ryan Zielinski walked and came around to score on a Matt Eisenhuth sacrifice fly in the bottom of the first inning.

Riley (0-3) worked his way around three walks in the first two innings, but trouble struck in the third as he faced six batters without recording an out, and all six came around to score. Brian Merrigan (Holbrook, MA) led off with a single to left-centerfield and Cook followed with a walk. Taiki Kasuga (New York, NY) then smacked a tailing fly ball to right field that Eisenhuth could not find in the
sun, falling for a two-run double. 

After a walk to Kevin Heller (Brooklyn, NY), Mike Samela (Westport, CT) crushed a Riley offering to the opposite field for a two-run triple. Scott Shaffer (Boulder, CO) then chased Riley with a double off the right-centerfield fence.

The Spartans were able to steal a run in the bottom of the fifth inning as David Brandt singled up the middle with one out. Brandt then stole second, third and eventually home, improving to 27-for-27 in stolen base attempts this season.

Leading by four in the seventh, Amherst tacked on five more runs to bust the game open, as Cook belted his second home run of the season, a grand slam to right field to provide the knockout punch. Adam Medoff (San Francisco, CA), Dylan Joyce (South Orange, NJ) and Cam Windham (Washington, DC) each pitched a scoreless inning of relief for the Jeffs. 

Kasuga, Shaffer and Merrigan each had two hits to pace the Lord Jeffs' offense, while Shawn Kennedy collected a pair of base knocks for the Spartans.

Amherst returns to NESCAC West action Friday at 3:30 p.m. when the Lord Jeffs begin a three-game set at Hamilton.

BOX SCORE