AMHERST, Mass. -- The Amherst College baseball team snapped a tie by scoring seven runs in the bottom of the sixth inning off four Eastern Connecticut State University pitchers and went on to its fourth straight win over the Warriors, 9-3, in a non-conference game Wednesday afternoon at Memorial Field.
After giving up two runs in the first inning on a hit and an error, graduate righty Nathan Furino (East Haven) settled down by pitching four scoreless inning before Amherst (11-12) chased him two batters into the sixth inning, piling on seven runs on four hits and four walks, with No. 3 hitter Jack Sampedro capping the rally with a two-out, three-run double for the Mammoths.
Eastern (19-7) senior cleanup hitter Alejandro Soriano (Hartford) reached safely for the 26th consecutive game by doubling leading off the fourth inning and scoring the tying run and singling with one out in the sixth. Senior leadoff hitter Ray Leonzi (Trumbull) failed to reach base after 24 straight games but did drive in a seventh-inning run with a sacrifice fly. Leonzi flew out three times and grounded out once
In 5 ½ innings, Furino allowed only three hits and was not involved in the decision. He fanned six and walked four and was charged with Amherst's first three runs.
Sophomore DH Ian Moser (Bellingham, MA) upped his season average to .347 – third among regulars only behind Soriano (.406) and Leonzi (.402) – by reaching four times with a double, two singles (the first one driving in Eastern's first run in the second inning) and a walk. Senior infielder Emmanuel Zaiter (Miami, FL) – who drove in five runs (four on a home run) in Tuesday's Little East Conference win at Western Connecticut -- singled in each of his final two at-bats and scored on Leonzi's seventh-inning sacrifice fly.
Schedule to play eight conference games in a nine-day period beginning Friday, Amherst utilized six pitchers, none for more than two innings.
A winner of 12 of its last 15, Eastern meets Wheaton College (16-11) Thursday at 3:30 p.m. in a non-conference game. Including Sunday's Little East home split with the University of Southern Maine, the Warriors are in the midst of playing five games in five days.
The Warriors close out the road trip with a non-conference pair at Salisbury University this weekend and an LEC contest at Keene State a week from Tuesday. In 2022, the Warriors won the national title game over 2021 champion Salisbury (25-5), currently ranked sixth nationally. The Gulls bring a nine-game winning streak into Wednesday's game at Catholic University.