WILLIMANTIC, CT – The Amherst College baseball team kicked off the final weekend of its regular season with an 11-4 win at Eastern Connecticut State University Saturday afternoon. The Lord Jeffs improve to 23-7 overall and are 8-1 in their past nine games, while the Warriors drop to 29-9. 

Friday marked the Lord Jeffs' first win over Eastern since 2002, as they had been winless against the Warriors in their past eight attempts. Amherst and ECSU were fifth and sixth, respectively, in the NCAA's latest regional rankings, with the Warriors also hanging on to 13th in the D3baseball.com/NCBWA Top 25 Poll. 

Max McKenna '11 (Lexington, MA) bumped his record to 5-1 by striking out six and walking only one in the first seven innings, surrendering four runs on five hits along the way. It was then six up, six down for Hayden Metz '12 (Ridgefield, CT), who struck out one batter in two perfect innings of relief. 

Six players had at least two hits for the Jeffs, who piled on 16 in all. Taiki Kasuga '14 (New York, NY) went 2-for-4 with a triple and four RBIs, while Thomas Wheeler '12 (Minnetonka, MN) was 3-for-5 with a run driven in. Joe Balowski '13 finished at 2-for-3 with a pair of solo homers to lead the Warriors, who used eight pitchers in the game.

Robert Perry '11 put the hosts on the board with a solo home run in the bottom of the first inning, and Balowski made it 2-0 in the second with a solo shot of his own. 

Amherst took a 3-2 lead in the third when Jose Espinosa '11 (Ridgefield, CT) started a two-out rally that would feature a two-RBI triple by Kasuga and an RBI-single to center by Mike Samela '12 (Westport, CT). The Jeffs added three runs in the fourth on a bases-loaded walk and another two RBIs from Kasuga. 

Balowski's second solo blast of the afternoon made it a 6-3 game in the bottom of the fourth. Amherst came back with a pair of runs in the fifth, with Espinosa driving in the first before Brian Merrigan '11 (Holbrook, MA) scored on a passed ball to push Amherst's lead to 8-3. 

The teams then traded runs in the sixth inning, with the Jeffs getting theirs courtesy of a solo homer by Kevin Heller '12 (Brooklyn, NY), his fifth long ball of the year. With the Jeffs holding a 9-4 lead, they capped off the scoring with two runs in the eighth when Samela and Wheeler each singled to center for an RBI. 

In addition to Kasuga and Wheeler standing out, Espinosa went 2-for-4 and scored two runs, as the senior second baseman is hitting .571 (12-for-21) with a .679 on-base percentage during his current seven-game hit streak. Alex Hero '14 (New York, NY) Nolan Stewart '13 (New Canaan, CT) and Samela added two hits apiece, while Merrigan and Bob Cook '13 (Winnetka, IL) each went 1-for-5 as every member of the starting lineup recorded a hit. 

The Lord Jeffs will close out their regular season with an unusual doubleheader on Sunday, first taking on the University of Southern Maine (12 p.m.) before facing Bates College at Hadlock Field (5 p.m.), home of the Portland Sea Dogs.

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