Amherst College collected seven hits and scored eight runs in the third inning, and the Lord Jeffs defeated Hamilton College 13-1 in a NESCAC game at Amherst's Memorial Field on March 30.
Taiki Kasuga '14 and Bob Cook '14 each had two hits and drove in three runs. Mike Samela '12 was 3-for-3, and Kevin Heller '12 and Alex Hero '14 added two hits apiece. Starting pitcher John Cook '15 scattered three hits and one earned run over five innings of work. Cook walked two batters and fanned two.
Sam Choate '12 led the Continentals offensively with two hits. Thomas Merriman '15 had an RBI single, and Tyler Reinhold '12 smacked a double. John Wulf '12 singled and scored Hamilton's run. Starting pitcher Ryan Crawford '15 surrendered 10 hits in 3.1 innings. Crawford allowed four earned runs, walked two batters and struck out two.
Amherst (8-4 overall, 1-0 NESCAC) took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning. Hero led off with a single up the middle, stole second and advanced to third on a Hamilton error. Hero later scored on a Kasuga's base-hit to left.
After reaching on another error in the bottom of the second, Nolan Stewart '13 beat out the throw at third before coming home on a passed ball to make it 2-0.
Hamilton (3-13, 0-1) got a run back in the top of the third when Wulf led off with a walk. Choate kept the inning alive by legging out an infield single to short, and GabeKlein '13 then drew another walk to load the bases. Merriman followed with a single to left to bring home Wulf.
Responding in the bottom half of the frame, Heller got things started with a double into the right field gap. Advancing to third on a Samela single, Heller later crossed the plate on a Cook triple to center, extending the Amherst lead to 3-1.
After Bob Cook scored on an error, Stewart doubled in the Jeffs' fourth run before moving to third on a Quinn Saunders-Kolberg '14 single. With Hero coming home on a sacrifice fly, Kasuga made it 6-1 with an RBI double.
Samela plated another run with a two-out RBI single before Bob Cook reached on an error, allowing Kasuga to cross home. Hitting Brendon Hardin '15 with the bases still loaded to force in the eighth run of the inning, Crawford finally ended the Amherst threat, getting Stewart to foul out to third.
Tacking on three more runs in the bottom of the fourth on a Kasuga sacrifice fly and a Bob Cook two-run single that made it 13-1, the Jeffs gave John Cook all the run support he would need, with the lefthander allowing just one run on three hits in five innings of work. Dylan Driscoll '14, Jack Falvey '15 and Andrew Hum '15 combined for four shutout innings in relief, surrendering just two hits, while striking out six.
Hamilton takes on Amherst in a NESCAC doubleheader on Saturday, March 31, at noon.