Around the Herd: March 20 to March 26 in Athletics

Baseball

During Spring Break, the Amherst Baseball team headed down to Florida for the RussMatt Central Florida Invitational. Their first couple games started off a little rocky with consecutive losses to SUNY Cobleskill and University of Wisconsin Stevens-Point.

In the first game against SUNY Cobleskill, the Tigers immediately went up four runs, and whenever the Mammoths would answer with a few runs of their own, the Tigers would re-extend the lead again. By the end of the game, the four run gap remained, as Amherst lost 8-12. Amherst was able to score the first run in the Wisconsin game, but the Pointers immediately went on an eight unanswered run streak that the Mammoths could never catch back up to. They lost 11-7.

For the rest of the invitational, however, the Mammoths never lost again. They beat St. Lawrence University, twice, with Luke Padian ’24 going five for nine across both games, along with three runs and an RBI. Then, they took on Framingham State University in a game that went to a tenth inning after a 6-6 tie. It was the bottom of the tenth, the Mammoths had two outs, Jack McDermott ’25 and Jack Boyle ’25 were on second and third base, respectively. Ryan McIntyre ’25 went up to hit and smashed a three-run homer over the fence to win the game for Amherst 9-6.

The end of the tournament featured another double header, this time against Worcester State University. In the first game, the Mammoths scored six runs in the second inning and Worcester State was never able to claw their way back up. The game ended 11-6. Their second game, on the other hand, featured what might have been the greatest comeback in the Amherst baseball program. They were down 16-4 after three and a half innings. Suddenly, the team scored three runs, followed by another three runs in the sixth. Some excellent pitching by Trevor Gasgarth ’24 and Naaveen Narayanan ’26 held off any Worcester State batting and the score remained 16-10 by the bottom of the seventh. McIntyre and Padian each recorded RBIs, Christian Fagnant ’24 hit a two run homer, Tyler McCord ’26 scored on a pitching error, and all of a sudden, the team was only down a run with McIntyre at the plate again. With a stunning double to centerfield, McIntyre clutched the victory for the Mammoths yet again. Amherst won 17-16, recording a 5-2 record over the spring break.

Men’s Lacrosse

The men’s lacrosse team faced Gettysburg College last Wednesday. Although Gettysburg scored first, Amherst netted three straight goals to create a 3-1 lead by the end of the first quarter. From then on, each team kept trading goals back and forth, but Amherst never let go of their lead, staving off Gettysburg in their 9-8 win. Bob Gross ’26 was the star of the match, recording three goals and two assists in the victory. Alex Giacobbe ’25 was not far behind, netting himself two goals and an assist, as the Mammoths move up to a stellar 5-1 record on the season.

Men’s Tennis

At the beginning of their spring break trip, the Mammoths faced Concordia University Texas, and swept them 9-0. Amherst didn’t lose a single set, in both the doubles and singles games throughout the ladder. The team’s match against Southwestern university proved to be barely any different. The Mammoths only lost one doubles match and one singles match, taking home a 7-2 victory. Kobe Ellenbogen ’25 and Sujit Chepuri ’25 won both of their doubles and singles matches. Unfortunately, the Mammoths matchup against Emory ended as their first loss of an otherwise impeccable season. The team fought hard as two of their doubles matches went to tiebreaks and three of the singles matches went to three sets. Nevertheless, the No.1 seeded narrowly secured their victory in a 4-5 loss for the Mammoths.

The Amherst men’s tennis team still holds a stunning 7-1 record coming into their game against Hamilton College this weekend.

Women’s Tennis
The women’s team began their trip against Redlands University. They swept their doubles matchups, and only lost the top seat in the singles ladder, securing a 8-1 victory. After losing her seat against Redlands, Delila Friedman ’25 redeemed herself with two wins in both her doubles and singles matchups against Whitman University. Amherst didn’t lose a single set against Whitman, sweeping the ladder in a 9-0 victory. Pomona-Pitzer proved to be a much tougher opponent, as the Mammoths were only able to win two doubles matches, but were completely dominated in every singles match. Amherst lost 2-7.

Nevertheless, the women’s tennis team came out of spring break with a 3-2 record. They will face the University of Rochester this weekend.

Men’s Track and Field

The men’s throwers participated in the Swanson Classic at Wesleyan University. Charlie Spurrell ’26 , Hugh Lemmon-Kishi ’24, David Brown ’25, won the top three in the hammer throw, each recording 46.26m, 43.04m, and 40.56m, respectively. First-year Jacob Shine ’27 won both the shot put and the discus.

The team will compete in the Black & Gold Invitational at Bryant this Friday.

Women’s Track and Field

Women’s throwers competed in the Swanson Classic at Wesleyan University. Carolina Andrade ’24 won the javelin with a mark of 32.12m. Bethany Martin ’24 finished second in the hammer throw with a mark of 38.06.

The track and field team will participate in the Black & Gold Invitational at Bryant this Friday.

Softball

After the new hiring of coach Diann Ramsey, the Amherst softball team lost eight of their 11 games throughout the spring break. Nevertheless, they recorded three impressive wins against Buffalo State, Union College, and Westminster College.

Against Buffalo State, Randi Finkelstein ’24 netted herself three RBIs while Dani Torres Werra ’25 netted herself one rbi and simultaneously threw a one-hit shutout on the defensive end. Amherst won 8-0 for their first victory under Ramsey’s tenure.

No runs were scored in the first inning, however, the Mammoths rattled six runs in the second and never let go of the lead, winning 13-0. Torres Werra only allowed two hits again in the first three innings. Heidi Li ’27 had three RBIs, but four other Mammoths had at least one RBI in the win.

The Mammoths also bested Westminster college in a 8-3 victory. Amherst immediately exploded for five runs in the first inning. Although Westminster was able to record a few runs in the last few innings, the Mammoths had already gotten to eight runs, and they won the game 8-3. America Rangel ’25 recorded three RBIs while Jenna Holmes ’27 recorded two.

Although their record sits at 3-8, the team will seek to improve this weekend against Wesleyan University to begin their NESCAC campaign.