Baseball Plays in Second Straight NCAA Regional
Baseball Plays in Second Straight NCAA RegionalThe Jeffs kicked off the New England Regional by upsetting top-seeded Brandeis for a place in the winner's bracket. Jin drove in Amherst's first two runs with a double in the 3rd before sending his fifth home run of his senior season over the leftfield wall for a 7-0 lead. Jon Cross (Chevy Chase, MD) pitched 8 2/3 innings and struck out four to better his record to 4-1.
Facing Southern Maine in the winner's game, Amherst got off to a shaky start against a gusty wind. The Jeffs committed two of the team's three errors on the first two plays, setting up a four-run Husky 1st. Amherst got on the board in the bottom of the 6th when Mike Grant (Mendon, MA) reached first base with a lead off single and came home on a Jin shot into centerfield to cut the lead to 17-1. Southern Maine committed an error the following inning to put Larry Miles (Darnestown, MD) on base before Hugh Quattlebaum (Andover, MA) drilled a long double into deep centerfield for the RBI. Taking advantage of miscues, Carroll rounded out Amherst scoring in the 9th off the Huskies' second error of the game.
Hoping to avoid elimination, Amherst regrouped before its night game against third-seeded Eastern Connecticut State University. The Jeffs responded to two Warrior runs in the top of the 1st with a two-run homer by Carroll, his fifth in the last eight games. Mike Sullivan (Andover, MA) followed up in the 3rd with another two-run shot as the second of four Lord Jeff home runs in the game. Quattlebaum posted his first of his rookie season to score three runs in the bottom of the 5th, followed two batters later by Justin Cronk (Athens, GA) and his third of his senior year. In two games this season against the Warriors, Amherst has pounded seven homers for 15 RBI.
Eastern Connecticut rebounded with four runs in the 6th and seven in the top of the 9th to overcome a 12-4 deficit and advance to the Championship game. Graham Callaghan (Burlington, CT) struck out five in 4 2/3 innings for the Jeffs.
Hitting: 48 or more at bats Pitching Statistics AB Hits RBI Bat. avg. IP Hits K ERA Dan Jin '97 114 53 37 .465 Mike Sullivan '98 92 38 28 .413 Josh Carroll '98 113 44 42 .389 Justin Cronk '97 60 23 13 .383 Greg Berchelmann '00 127 46 47 .362 Mike Brendler '97 126 41 13 .325 Dan Blednick '98 102 31 15 .304 Hugh Quattlebaum '00 103 30 18 .291 Mike Grant '99 97 28 10 .289 Geoff Spies '98 56 8 10 .143 George Gumpert '99 5.0 1 1 1.80 Jon Cross '98 4 1 1 .250 44.2 39 21 2.42 Mike Spirito '98 25.2 24 19 2.81 Andy Ditchfield '99 22.0 18 12 2.86 Mike Sweeney '99 42.1 40 20 3.19 Graham Callaghan '99 32.0 42 21 3.38 Ian Downes '97 1 0 0 .000 50.2 50 39 3.55 Brock Safronoff '97 14.2 24 13 4.91 John O'Connell '97 15.2 28 8 9.77 Chris Smith '00 3.1 5 3 13.50 Amherst Totals 1080 366 250 .339 256.0 271 157 3.69 Opponent Totals 1023 271 116 .265 245.0 366 120 7.68Final Season Record: 26-6 Last Week: NCAA New England Regionals, No. 4 seed No. 1 Brandeis, W 8-3 No. 2 Southern Maine, L 3-23 No. 3 Eastern Connecticut State University, L 12-16
Entering the tournament with a No. 4 seed, the Jeffs drew Washington College in the first round and fell 4-1 to the eventual national champion. Adam Wolf (Roslyn Heights, NY) posted the Jeffs' lone win in completed matches, and the junior posted a perfect 3-0 individual match record to better his season showing against Division III schools to 22-1.
Facing top-seeded UC Santa Cruz in the consolation semifinals, Harlan Stock (West Hartford, CT) and co-captains Jacobs and Ed Rosenfeld (Lexington, KY) posted wins at No. 2 singles and No. 1 doubles, respectively. Yo Kobayashi (Palo Alto, CA) and Noah Lippe-Klein (Palo Alto, CA) nearly squeaked out the doubles point for Amherst, but fell 9-7 at the No. 2 spot. The pair did emerge victorious over Emory in the 7/8 match, as did Kobayashi at No. 5 singles in the 4-2 loss.
Final Season Record: 14-6
Last Week: NCAA Nationals at Washington & Lee, 8th place
Washington College, L 1-4
UC Santa Cruz, L 2-4
Emory, L 2-4
Amherst concluded its 1997 spring season with a 14-6 team match record and with an 8th place finish at the NCAA National Team Championship. Co-Captain Bruce Jacobs (Pittsburgh, PA) also qualified for the Singles Championship as one of the top-32 players in the nation. Winning the first set 6-2, the senior fell 6-4, 6-2 to the No. 5 seed in the first round.
Men's Tennis Finishes 8th in NCAA Nationals
Individual Match Records Singles Doubles
Bruce Jacobs '97 15-10 7-16
Harlan Stock '99 15-8 13-10
Ryan Cole '98 11-12 13-10
Ed Rosenfeld '97 13-9 7-16
Yo Kobayashi '99 14-9 15-10
Adam Wolf '98 22-2 ---
Noah Lippe-Klein '98 ---- 15-10