Courtesy of Springfield Sports Information

SPRINGFIELD, MA – The Amherst College baseball team extended its win streak to four on a beautiful Tuesday afternoon at Berry Allen Field, blanking local rival Springfield College, 10-0, to improve to 19-6 on the season. The Pride fell to 10-20 on the year with the loss.  

Amherst pounded 15 hits in the contest, led by Alex Hero's (New York, NY) 3-for-5 effort, raising his season average to .407. First-year Taiki Kasuga (New York, NY) tallied two RBI in the game, as did junior Mike Samela (Westport, CT) after crushing a two-run homer in the third inning. 

Senior starter Jeff Keenan (West Hartford, CT) earned the win as he allowed just one hit in five innings while striking out three. Junior Dylan Joyce (South Orange, NJ), Hayden Metz (Ridgefield, CT) and Cam Windham (Washington, DC) combined for four shutout innings in relief, surrendering just two hits.

The Lord Jeffs wasted little time scoring as they plated a run in the first, with a Kasuga groundout plating Hero, who led off the game with a double to left center. The visitors added two more in the third off Samela's round-tripper, and blew open the game in the fourth with four more runs. Amherst led off the frame with three-straight singles and benefited from a Springfield error to open up a 7-0 lead. 

Amherst added another in the fifth as senior Brain Merrigan (Holbrook, MA) came around to score after a leadoff triple. The final two runs came in the seventh on RBI singles from Kasuga and senior Bryce Einhorn (Scarsdale, NY).

Playing in its first game since April 16, Springfield struggled as it totaled just three hits in the contest. Senior John Schmaltz tallied two hits to pace the Pride attack, while first-year Sean Smith produced a single in the bottom of the ninth. Senior Steve Forbes took the loss for Springfield as he gave up eight runs off 12 hits in six innings of work.

The Lord Jeffs return to action on Apr. 29-30 for a three-game set with NESCAC rival Wesleyan University.

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