KERNS PITCHES AMHERST PAST TUFTS IN FIRST ROUND OF NESCAC's
COLLEGE BASEBALL FINAL SCORE
NESCAC Tournament First Round
Amherst 5 Tufts 1
At Amherst, MA
Friday, May 9, 2003
AMHERST & SPRINGFIELD, MA - The Amherst College baseball team scored four runs in the eighth inning to give starter Andy Kerns (Barrington, IL) his third complete game victory of the season, a 5-1 win over visiting Tufts University, in day one of the double elimination NESCAC Postseason Championship Tournament, hosted by Amherst. Twenty-second ranked Trinity College joined Amherst in the winners' bracket with a 9-8 win over Williams College, played at nearby American International College (AIC).
Amherst (20-10) will host Trinity (20-8) and Williams (26-9) will face Tufts (21-9) in an elimination game at AIC on Saturday. Both games are set for 10:30 a.m.
Kerns, who upped his record to a perfect 6-0, was masterful against Tufts, logging nine strikeouts while holding the Jumbos to just one run on three hits. Tufts had the leadoff man on board in five consecutive innings, but Kerns wiggled out of trouble each time - save for a sacrifice fly, which brought a run home in the fifth inning. He then settled down and retired the last nine hitters in order, with four of the nine outs coming by strikeout.
Tufts starter Jon Lee (Manhasset Hills, NY) held the Jeffs to just one run through the first seven innings, courtesy of a solo homer over the left field wall by Amherst shortstop Zach Schonberger (Rye, NY), his third of the season. In the eighth, however, Lee gave up a leadoff single to Brandon Cody (Boston, MA) and Tufts failed to record outs on two consecutive bunts, loading the bases for the cleanup hitter, Dave Levinson (Philadelphia, PA). Levinson came through with an RBI single, and Fran Morales (North Andover, MA) drove in two more runs with yet another single off Tufts reliever Randy Newsom (Cincinnati, OH). John Schneider (Grand Rapids, MI) capped the barrage with Amherst's sixth single of the inning, a laser through the left side that scored Levinson and set the final score at 5-1.
The Jeffs pounded out 11 hits on the afternoon, getting a pair of singles each from David Powers (Andover, MA), Schonberger, Cody and Levinson. Senior SS Brian Shapiro (Swampscott, MA), senior LF Jon Herbert (Davidsonville, MD) and sophomore C Bob Kenny (Milford, MA) each singled for Tufts. Lee dropped to 9-3 with the loss.
A pinch-hit grand slam in the eighth inning by Robert O'Leary (Easton, MA) proved to be the difference in Trinity's win over Williams. Williams cut the deficit to 9-8 with two runs in the top of the ninth, highlighted by an RBI single by Jabe Bergeron (Chesterfield, NH), but the late rally proved to be too little, too late for the Ephs, who left runners on first and third in the final frame.
Jeff Natale (Hamden, CT), Jayme Dorr (Osterville, MA) and Kurt Piantek (Wallingford, CT) paced Trinity with two hits each. Natale drove in two runs with a double and a single. Trinity starter Kevin Tidmarsh (Meriden, CT) surrendered six runs in seven complete innings but picked up the win to improve to 8-0. Craig Tredenick (Cornwall, Prince Edward Island) pitched the ninth and picked his third save of the season.
For Williams, the first five hitters in the batting order combined for 11 of the Ephs' 12 hits. Timothy Burbridge (East Greenwich, RI) and Bergeron each finished 2-for-5 and drove in a pair of runs, while starting pitcher Bobby Coppola (Orange, CT) aided his own cause with a double and two singles. Coppola surrendered all nine Trinity runs in 6.2 innings and took the loss to fall to 4-1.
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