Williams Falls to Amherst 16-7

WILLIAMSTOWN, MA- With one out and Jack Dove on second, Christian Fagnant stepped into the batter's box in the 6^th and knocked one into center field, sending Dove home with the game winning run as Amherst defeated Williams 16-7.
 
With Will Jefferies on the mound for the Ephs and Nick Giattino for the Mammoths, the game remained scoreless through the first.
 
Billy Shea opened things up for Williams in the second inning, driving the ball into the outfield down the rightfield line for an RBI double that brought in David Driscoll. A groundout from from Ryan Young moved Shea to third who then raced home on a wild pitch to put the Ephs up 2-0.
 

Following a couple of walks, Jacob Martin replaced Will Jefferies in the middle of the third inning before the Mammoths rallied to score 4 runs.
 
With runners on first and second, Ryan McIntyre grounded out to third, allowing one run to score. Jack McDermott then connected for an RBI double down the rightfield line to tie it. Jackson Reydel grabbed the lead for the Mammoths with an RBI double of his own. Luke Padian made it 4-2 with a single that brought in Reydel before Martin struck out Chris Murphy for the final out.
 
Amherst added another run in the 4^th with a sacrifice fly from Fagnant that made it 5-2.
 
Williams fought to keep the lead small with a couple great defensive plays. With only one out and a runner on first in the 5^th, Pappas scooped a groundball hit up the middle, stepped on second for the force and then fired it over to first for the double play to end the inning and avoid any runs from scoring.
 
With two outs in the bottom of the 5^th, the Ephs found a spark. After Pappas was hit by a pitch, Jakob Cohn doubled to leftfield, sending Pappas home and cutting the lead to 5-3.
 
With Cohn on third and two outs, Henry Juan crushed the 2-0 pitch, sending it over the rightfield fence for the two-run shot and evening the score at 5 all.
 
Williams struggled in the 6^th and 7^th giving up four runs and three runs, putting them down 12-5.
 
Henry Juan added a run for the Ephs in the 7^th with groundout that brought in Pappas to make it 12-6.
 
However, the Amherst offense continued to have a day, adding two more in both the 8^th inning and the 9^th to put them up 16-6.
 
Down ten in the bottom of the 9^th, a Billy Shea RBI single gave the Ephs one more run, but ultimately came up short 16-7.
 
Despite giving up 20 hits, the Ephs had a great day at the plate, putting up 6 runs against Giattino, the 2021 NESCAC rookie of the year who has had a tremendous season this year as well.
 
With solid at bats and a good defense behind, Williams's head coach Bill Barrale plans on "putting this one behind [them]," and turning their focus to tomorrow when they will take on Amherst once again in a double header at Amherst beginning at 1:00 pm.