AMHERST, Mass. – Returning to the diamond after 387 days, the Amherst College baseball team showed little signs of rust as the Mammoths totaled 22 runs in their season-opening weekend against Little III rival Wesleyan en route to taking the series via a 4-0 shut out in game one and a 12-7 victory in game three.

The Mammoths return to action next Saturday, April 17 when they travel to Hamilton College for a doubleheader beginning at 1:30PM.


GAME ONE | Amherst 4, Wesleyan 0 (7 inn.) | Box Score
Deadlocked and scoreless after four innings, Amherst broke through in the fifth to tally its first runs of the 2021 season and take a 3-0 lead.
 
Senior Tyler Marshall got things going in the lead-off spot, blasting a double to left field before Aidan Park '23 ripped a single to deep center to register the visitor's first RBI of the year and send Marshall home. With Park on third following a sacrifice bunt and Michael Perales '24 at first after drawing a walk, Joseph Palmo '21 and Daniel Qui '23 posted back-to-back singles to set the score at 3-0.
 
Making his collegiate debut on the mound in the sixth, first-year Nick Giattino sent three straight Cardinals back to the dugout before a leadoff single by Palmo resulted in an Amherst insurance run and what stood as the final run of the contest.
 
Sachin Nambiar '23 (1-0) earned the win on the hill for the Mammoths, striking out four and giving up just three hits in 5.0 innings of work, while Giattino was credited with the save after striking out two of the final six Wesleyan hitters. Pat Clare (0-1) took the loss for Wesleyan, allowing seven hits and four runs in 6.0 innings despite striking out eight.
 

GAME TWO | Wesleyan 7, Amherst 6 (7 inn.) | Box Score
Rebounding quickly in game two, the Cardinals exploded for seven runs in the second inning to jump out to a comfortable 7-0 lead behind a Satoshi Miki double and singles from Ryan Molinari, Jack Nally, Adam Geibel.

Undeterred by the early deficit, the Mammoths began to mount a comeback effort in the fifth and cut Wesleyan's advantage to 7-5 to get within striking distance down the stretch. Chris Murphy '23, T. Marshall, Jackson Reydel '23 were the Amherst RBI-getters in the inning.
 
A homer by Qin in the sixth got Amherst within one entering their final at bat, but the Mammoths bid would come up just short as the home team retired the side in the top of the seventh to hang on for the 7-6 victory.

Ian Donahue '24 (0-1) took the loss the Mammoths, allowing five hits and striking out one, while Jacob Ribitzki '24 struck out two and gave up two hits in 4.2 innings in relief. Coleton Reitan (1-0) pitched 4.2 innings for the Cardinals in the win, while Joe Mescall tossed the final 1.1 innings to claim the save.


GAME THREE | Amherst 12, Wesleyan 7 | Box Score
Starting out strong defensively, T. Marshall hauled in a highlight reel snag in left field to record the first out of the day, laying out in foul territory to send Cole Torino back to the bench.

Offensively, the Mammoths notched at least three runs in a single inning for the third straight game, as Amherst sent nine batters to the plate in the bottom of the first en route to taking a 4-0 edge. A single to left center by Qin brought Perales home to open scoring, before Luke Padian '24 logged a RBI on a ground out and T. Marshall singled up the middle to add two RBIs to the stat sheet.
 
Wesleyan countered with a run in the second and three more in the third to make it a 4-4 game after four innings of action.
 
Inning opening singles by Palmo and Qin set up a two-run fifth for the Mammoths, with Padian sending a double to deep left center to tally an RBI and push Qin to third before Qin made the most of a wild pitch and put Amherst ahead, 6-4.
 
Responding in the top of the seventh, four singles helped the Cardinals post two runs and even things at six all, however that was a close as the visitors would get to taking a lead as Amherst broke the game open and added five runs to the board in the bottom half.
 
Leading off the bottom of the seventh, Qin blasted a booming homer to left center field – his second home run of the weekend – to put the Mammoths back on top and galvanize the Amherst dugout. The next two Amherst batters each reached base via a hit by pitch before first-year Alan Dai drew a walk to load the bases with two outs. An error by the Cardinals' short stop on a hard-hit ball by Reydel then proved costly, with T. Marshall and Murphy each tagging home plate on the play and Perales making the most of his at bat and powering a two RBI triple to right center to clear the bases.

A SAC fly from Geibel in the top of the eighth nudged the score to 11-7, however the Mammoths answered with a run of their own and put together a one-two-three inning in the ninth to clinch the 12-7 victory and take the series from Wesleyan, two games to one.

Sen Kenneally '22 tossed 2.1 innings in the start for Amherst, striking out one, while Giattino threw 4.1 innings in relief, allowing five hits and striking out six. Dai earned the win for the Mammoths, whiffing three and giving up just one hit in the final 2.1 innings. Five different Cardinals saw time on the mound, with Derek Jann (0-1) taking the loss.