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Williams Wins West Division Title Over AmherstWilliams Sports Info
01:35PM / Tuesday, May 05, 2009
PITTSFIELD, Mass. — It was a full day of festivities at historic Wahconah Park, culminating in the last game of the regular season for both the Williams College Ephs and the Lord Jeffs of Amherst, a game that the Jeffs needed to win to qualify for the NESCAC tournament.
But the Ephs pounded out 14 hits en route to an 8-5 victory in front a large crowd of parents, alumni, and an EPSN camera crew that was broadcasting the game live on ESPN.com
The Ephs close their regular season with an overall record of 24-10, first place in the NESCAC West Division with a 9-3 conference mark. Eph head coach Bill Barrale has now won the NESCAC West title all three years. Amherst finished the 2009 campaign with a 16-13 record and a 7-5 posting in the division. This was also the final game of Jeff head coach Bill Thurston, who compiled a career record of 811-471-12 in 44 seasons.
"I thought the guys were pretty loose today," said Eph head coach Bill Barrale. "This was a big game for a lot of reasons but it's still just one out of 34 like any other game. We weren't very loose the last time we faced these guys and it showed, but today we went out and had fun."
"We've played here before so we had some experience of what it would be like," said Eph junior Robin Allemand. "We're a very cohesive team and that really helps to keep us loose and focused in games like this."
Freshman reliever Dan Grossman (3-1) was awarded the win, hurling 5.1 innings, allowing 6 hits,1 earned run, and striking out 4. Senior southpaw Ryan Platzbecker (3-2) took the loss for the Jeffs struggling in 2.1 innings, surrendering 5 runs on 6 hits and 2 walks.
The scoring began in the bottom of the first, when Amherst's sophomore leadoff hitter Brian Merrigan tripled to right center and was brought in by a sacrifice fly off the bat of junior Will Lawton.
In the next half inning, the Ephs responded in a big way in the form of a towering home run courtesy of Allemand, which also scored junior Chad Brown. But Amherst would come right back in the bottom of the inning after the Jeffs put runners on second and third with no outs. Merrigan batted in first year John Wagner from third to knot the score at two.
Again, Williams countered with twice the production in the next half inning when Cameron Susk tripled to right center, plating both senior Barrett Allison and junior Al Mathews, who both singled to get on. Susk then took off for home two pitches later on a suicide squeeze, and Brown positioned the bunt perfectly for a hit that scored the fifth Williams run and knocked Platzbecker out of the game. Sophomore reliever Max McKenna took the hill and pitched out of the jam.
Grossman took over in the top of the third and gave up his sole run on a homer to right by senior Brian Powers that made it a 5-3 ballgame. But in timely fashion, the Ephs scored another in the bottom half when Mathews singled in freshman Stephen Maier with two outs to push the advantage back to three.
"Our bats were swinging pretty good today and the guys looked comfortable for the most part at the plate," said Barrale.
"I think the guys were pretty loose in the batter's box today," said senior Zach Stone. "The pitchers started to settle in later on, but I think we had good at-bats all game."
The game remained scoreless until the top of the sixth, after Allemand blasted a triple to left and Maier drove him in with a single. On the throw, Maier took second, and Mathews brought in his second of the game to stretch the lead to 8-3.
The bats remained quiet in this one until the final inning, when Amherst rallied for two more off senior pinch hitter Mike Neff homer to center that put the comeback within reach. But freshman Harry Marino, who came on in the bottom of the eighth for Grossman, stayed tough and battled for the last two outs and the save.
"We like to run the bases as a team and we came up big on the base paths in this one," remarked Barrale. "The suicide squeeze was perfectly done by Brown, and we showed a lot of hustle from start to finish."
"Grossman was the story of this game," complimented senior Horowitz. "He did a great job to hold their bats for us and Marino was fantastic as well.
The Ephs now look forward to a round one NESCAC tournament matchup at home with Tufts this Friday, the team who knocked them into the loser's bracket of the tournament last year. Play will begin at 3PM on Bobby Coombs Field.
Don't forget that the recording of this game will air on EPSN U on Monday, May 4, at 7 and again on May 6 and May 12 at 7 p.m. and midnight, respectively.
It is also worthy to note that Williams won the alumni re-enactment game of the 1859 contest between Amherst and Williams by a final of 19-17, slightly different from the 73-32 Amherst victory in the original game. Williams also took the 4-on-4 Chess Match that was held simultaneously by a score of 3-1 over the Jeffs to officially sweep the day's events.
Eph chess coach Trevor Murphy noted, "Williams played Amherst in baseball and chess today at Wahconah Park in Pittsfield to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the first-ever U.S. baseball and chess matches.
The first game to finish was Kevin He on board 3 with a win with white. Andrew Kelly lost on board 4 with black making the score even. The game was real slow and slightly closed. When Andrew opened it up, his position didn't hold. He lost a rook and resigned.
Gordon Atkins then won on board 2 with black. White had two rooks lined up on the h file against Atkins' kingside castle. Gordon had a very passed pawn on the a file against white's queenside castle. Starting with 90 minutes on the clock, Gordon played thoughtfully until he had about 15 minutes left. Gordon neutralized White's h file attack and finished with a little mating combo on the a file.
Finally, Ty Zhou finished on board 1 with a win. This final game was won by accumulating miniscule advantages. The position looked even the whole game but Ty's opponent was always challenged and used much more time to stay even until he had less than 5 minutes and collapsed. In keeping with the theme of playing chess in a ball park, board one was covered in peanut shell debris the whole game.
"We played under the alumni tent and it was good we had the tent, not because of rain, but a baseball that was fouled over the stands and hit the tent," Murphy said. "That could have been a dramatic addition to a chess game. Spectators interrupted players constantly. ESPN gave out free hats to the players while they were on move. A photographer asked for each player's name. People made comments and conversed with players while the games were going on. The players took it all in stride."
Look for coverage on ESPNU, NPR, Sports Illustrated, Williams and Amherst sites. |
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