Four Williams College players collected at least two hits and the Ephs pulled away in the late innings for an 8-2 NESCAC West Division win over Hamilton College at Hamilton's Royce Field on April 28.
Williams (13-20 overall, 4-8 NESCAC West) won two out of three games in the weekend series and finished in a three-way tie for third place in the division with Hamilton and Middlebury College.
K.C. Murphy '13 led the Ephs with a 3-for-5 performance, including his ninth double, and an RBI. Taylor Mondshein '13, Marco Hernandez '14 and Kelso Stevens '15 finished with two hits and one RBI each. One of Mondshein's hits went for his seventh double.
Winning pitcher Patrick Blizzard '13 (2-1) gave up two runs on nine hits and fanned four in six innings. Lucas Casso '13 pitched three scoreless innings and picked up his first save.
Gabe Klein '13 had a stellar day both at the plate and in the field for the Continentals. Klein went 3-for-4 with two stolen bases and an RBI, and made some exceptional plays at first base. Joe Jensen '15, Colin Henneberger '14 and Brian Ferrell '16 ended up with two hits each, and Henneberger drove in a run.
JJay Lane '15 took the loss after he gave up three earned runs on 10 hits and struck out two batters in seven innings. Lane (1-2), who hadn't allowed an earned run since March 30, had his streak end at 17.2 innings. His earned run average of 1.46 leads the team. Andrew Jaffoni '15 and Joe Wagner '14 combined on two scoreless innings of relief.
Williams broke the ice with a run in the top of the third inning only to allow two runs in the bottom half of the third. A two-base error was followed by a wild pitch and Thomas Stephens '14 was on third base with no outs for the Ephs. Stevens drove in Stephens with a single through the right side. The Ephs got another runner on base with the inning's second error but stranded both runners in scoring position.
Ferrell and Jensen led off the bottom of the inning with singles and moved to third on a sacrifice bunt by Sam Fuentes '13. A single to center by Klein knocked in Ferrell and Henneberger's sacrifice fly to shallow right field plated Jensen for a 2-1 lead.
Williams evened the score with a run in the top of the fourth inning and took a 3-2 lead with another run in the fifth. Murphy started the fourth with a single and went to second base on a fielder's choice. Hernandez drove him in with a single that bounced on the edge of the infield and went high over Ferrell's head at second.
In the fifth, one-out singles by Darren Hartwell '13 and Mondshein put two runners aboard. The Continentals attempted to throw out Hartwell at third on a double steal but the ball sailed into left field and Hartwell trotted home.
The Ephs added an insurance run in the top of the seventh inning on a pair of doubles. Mondshein smacked a one-out double to right center and Murphy traded places with him on his double down the right field line with two away for a 4-2 lead.
Williams pulled away with four runs in the eighth inning. The Ephs loaded the bases with no outs on a single, a walk and an error. Tommy Moriarty '14 issued another walk to Matt Kastner '14 that plated the first run. The Continentals brought in Jaffoni, who got Hartwell to ground into a fielder's choice, but another run scored. With runners on first and third, Mondshein hit a sacrifice fly to right that scored another run, and Andrew Bishop '13 followed with a pinch-hit RBI single.
Casso, who relieved Blizzard in the seventh inning, retired the first eight batters he faced before he allowed a pair of two-out singles in the bottom of the ninth. He ended the game by fielding a chopper near the third base line and throwing the runner out at first.
Hamilton wraps up its season with a non-conference doubleheader against SUNY Institute of Technology at DeLutis Field in Rome on Tuesday, April 30.