AMHERST, Mass. -- Over the past four seasons the Amherst College baseball team has had more than its fair share of incredible comebacks, many of those on its own Memorial Field. 

The Mammoths added another chapter to that book Saturday, rallying from an 8-1 deficit to win the nightcap of a critical NESCAC doubleheader with Wesleyan on Charlie LaFreniere's walk-off single in the bottom of the 10th inning that gave them an 11-10 victory.

Amherst won game one of the twinbill, 20-2, as first-year catcher J.J. Grimes launched two home runs -- one a grand slam -- and senior Ryan McIntyre also had a grand slam in the win. 

The sweep allowed Amherst to improve to 14-12 overall and 6-2 in the NESCAC West with a big 4 p.m. showdown with division-leading Middlebury looming on Monday, It also gave the Mammoths the 2025 Little 3 title as they went 2-1 vs. Williams and 3-0 vs. Wesleyan for a 5-1 record. 

The Cardinals fell to 9-18 overall and 2-7 in the division. 

Game 2: Amherst 11, Wesleyan 10, 10 Inn.

* After trailing 8-1 early, the Mammoths were still down 10-9 entering the bottom of the ninth of the second game. With one out, first-year Justin Orridge boomed a triple into the right-center field gap. Classmate Aiden Dubetsky drew a walk and Grimes followed with a slow roller to third. The throw home to get Orridge was in plenty of time but bounced in the dirt and away from the catcher, allowing the tying run to score. 

* After Jack Sampedro set the Cardinals down in the top of the 10th -- fanning the final two batters -- he led off the bottom of the frame with a bloop single to right. With one out, Tyler McCord grounded a single just out of the reach of the diving Cardinal shortstop into left for a single. LaFreniere followed by hitting a frozen rope over the second baseman into right field for a single that score Sampedro and set off a wild celebration down the first-base line.

* The Amherst comeback began in earnest in the bottom of the fifth when, trailing 9-2, the Mammoths came up with four runs. A.J. Zaccareo opened the inning with a single. Ben Smith followed with a single and Jack Boyle worked a walk to load the bases with no outs. After an out, Sampedro lofted a sac fly to right to score one run. McIntyre kept the rally running with an RBI-single to make it 9-4. 

* After McIntyre stole second, McCord walked to load the bases and LaFreniere chopped a ball into the shortstop hole that he beat out for an infield single and RBI. Orridge then worked a bases-loaded walk to force in another run and make it a 9-6 game.

* Wesleyan expanded its lead to 10-6, but the Mammoths responded with three more runs in the bottom of the seventh to close within one run. McIntyre ignited the rally with a one-out single up the middle. McCord rocketed a double to left-center. McIntyre scored on a ball four wild pitch to LaFreniere. With two outs, Ben Smith came through with a clutch two-run single into left field to make it 10-9. 

* It's almost an afterthought in the madness of the ending, but in the top of the sixth inning, Mammoth centerfielder Jack Boyle made an absolute sensational catch to rob a home run from Jonah Timmons, leaping high over the fence in center to snatch the ball, then hanging suspended in the air while holding onto the fence and somehow not falling over it but back into the field of play to record the out. 

BY THE NUMBERS:

* The Mammoths used 5 pitchers, each tossing 2 innings. Sampedro (2-2) earned the victory with his two hitless, walkless, scoreless frames in which he struck out four. 

* Amherst finished with 16 hits in the comeback win. LaFreniere was 3 for 5 with 3 RBI and a run scored. McCord was 3 for 5 with two runs scored. McIntyre was 3 for 6 with an RBI and 2 runs scored. Smith was 2 for 4 with 2 RBI and a run scored. Sampedro was 2 for 4 with 2 RBI and a run scored. 

Game 1: Amherst 20, Wesleyan 2 (7 Inn.)

* Amazingly, Amherst scored its 20 runs in its first four at-bats of the opener, scoring twice in the first, five in the second, five in the third and eight in the fourth to build a 20-1 lead. 

* Sampedro, Grimes and McIntyre each had 5 RBIs in the win. Sampedro opened the scoring with a two-run double to left-center field in the first. In the second, Grimes led off with a solo home run to left field. Sampedro had a big two-run single in the inning as Amherst expanded its lead to 7-0. 

* In the third, four walks and a passed ball scored another run before McIntyre unloaded on a pitch for his grand slam home run to deep left field. In the fourth, McIntyre had an RBI-single, McCord an RBI-double and then Grimes capped the eight-run uprising with the Mammoths' second grand slam in two innings -- and his second home run of the game.

* Amherst sophomore E.J. Nevills was the benefactor of all the runs, but he didn't need them. Nevills threw six strong innings, giving up three hits and two runs, both earned, while walking five and striking out four to improve to 3-1 on the season. 

BY THE NUMBERS:

* The Mammoths had 15 hits in this win. Sampedro was 3 for 3 with 5 RBI and 2 runs scored. Grimes was 2 for 4 with 5 RBI, 2 home runs and 2 runs scored. McIntyre was 2 for 5 with 5 RBI and 3 runs scored, plus his home run. Boyle was 2 for 4 with 3 runs scored. Dubetsky was 1 for 2 with 3 runs scored.