Game 1 Box Score
Game 2 Box Score
WILLIAMSTOWN, MA--The Williams baseball team came up short in both of its Sunday contests against Amherst. In a doubleheader rescheduled from Saturday, the Lord Jeffs grabbed the early game 7-4 and won the later affair 8-5.
Ben Oliva got the early afternoon start for the Ephs and managed to last through five innings, but a rough patch in the second marred an otherwise successful outing. Amherst began the inning with five consecutive singles, scoring two and loading the bases with no outs. Oliva then induced a 6-4-3 double play, which scored another run but got two valuable outs. Leadoff hitter Bob Cook hit an RBI single and then scored on a Taiki Kasuga single, bringing the total to five runs for the inning.
For the moment, however, the Ephs were right in it. Pat Barren hit a two-run double in the first, and his teammates responded to Amherst's five-run outburst with two second-inning runs of their own. Second baseman Matt Kastner started things with a one-out single, and Steve Maier doubled him around to third. James Allison's sac fly and Cameron Susk's RBI single brought home the pair of Ephs.
Lucas Casso came on in relief of Oliva in the sixth with the Ephs down 6-4 and pitched an inning and giving up a run. Jimmy Ray threw a scoreless final frame.
But the real story of the game became Amherst's Fred Shepard. When starter Dylan Driscoll was pulled after two innings, Shepard came in for five scintillating innings, allowing just one hit and no runs to quash any hope for a Williams rally.
Maier and Susk each managed multi-hit games for the Ephs, who were held to just seven in the contest.
Amherst got off to a fast start in the second game as well. With Eddie Nadel on the hill for Williams, designated hitter Thomas Wheeler got the scoring started with a sacrifice fly in the first. Two innings later, Nadel threw the ball away on a pickoff try with men on first and third, scoring another. Nadel finished his day having given up just two hits and two runs (one earned) in three innings.
But Amherst would score four more times before an Eph runner crossed the plate. Matt Berdoff entered in relief and struggled through 1 2/3 innings, giving up four runs on six hits. Patrick Blizzard finally calmed the Lord Jeff bats over the final 4 1/3 innings of the nine-inning contest, giving up four hits and two runs.
With James Allison at the plate in the fifth, the Ephs tried to mount a charge. One run scored on a wild pitch and Allison singled in the next to cut the lead to 6-2.
But the relentless offense of Amherst picked up two more runs in the sixth, bringing the lead back up to six. In the home half of the seventh, Susk reached on an error and eventually scored for the Ephs—who weren't quite done.
Kastner got hit by a pitch to lead off the bottom of the ninth, and Maier tripled him home on the next play. Allison followed Maier with a triple to right field, cutting Amherst's lead to just 8-5.
And would end that way. Cam Windham entered the game for Amherst and struck out Susk looking, Barren swinging, and induced a Taylor Mondshein popup to end the game and earn a save. Starter Ryan Healy earned the win for the Lord Jeffs, finishing the game throwing seven innings and giving up five hits and two runs.
Allison finished the game 3 for 5 with 3 RBI, while Barren added two hits of his own.
For the Ephs, the sweep by Amherst marked a continued futility in NESCAC play. Despite an 18-10 overall record and a talented team, Williams is just 2-7 in-conference with just one series remaining. The Ephs next take on RPI on Tuesday.
