Photo by Josh McKee
With only nine games left in regular season, the 13–12 Hamilton baseball team (4–5 NESCAC) is optimistic they will make the playoffs. The Continentals will play in two more NESCAC series against the Trinity College Bantams and the Williams College Ephs over the next two weeks as they continue their run towards the conference tournament.
This past weekend the Continentals took on the Amherst College Mammoths in their first NESCAC home series of the year. The first game took place at the Loop Road Baseball/Softball Complex on Friday, Apr., 12, and the Mammoths — who are currently 14–8 overall — proved a worthy opponent but were unable to match the Continentals’ whopping 18 runs. With only a single run on the scoreboard after the first three innings, Hamilton went into attack mode during the bottom of the fourth, scoring five runs. The Mammoths came back to
even out the score in the top of the fifth, but the Continentals still had plenty of fuel left in the tank and responded accordingly when it was their turn to bat. After they scored another six runs, the host Continentals took the lead and maintained it for the rest of the game.
The team put Amherst on their heels and managed to keep them there after three consecutive bunts in the sixth inning. Jordan Northrup ’19 was able to score off of the first bunt by Graham McOsker ’20 when Amherst’s catcher fumbled the ball after their pitcher attempted to make a play at the plate. Craig Sanford ’19 was able to score off of the second bunt by Joe Suski ’21 and Northrup scored off of the third bunt by Rich Marooney ’21. Marooney’s bunt put Suski on third base. Suski came around to score another run on a wild pitch later in the inning. Marooney eventually came around to score making it 12–6 on a double to left from Ethan Wallis ’21.
Wallis finished the game with three hits — a single, a double and a triple — as well as three runs batted in. He came up a home run shy of hitting for the cycle, a baseball rarity. The Continentals who saw action in the game all contributed to the win as nine of the ten players who registered two or more plate appearances got at least one hit.
James Nish ’19 hit his second career home run, crushing the ball well beyond the 375-foot right field sign. Matt Zaffino ’21 scored 3 runs and had 2 runs batted in. Gavin Schaefer-Hood ’21, the starting pitcher, earned his NESCAC-leading fifth win after only letting up four runs on four hits and five walks in a total of five innings. The game ended 18–10 after the Continentals scored another six runs in the bottom of the seventh inning.
In their double header on Saturday, Apr. 13, the Continentals were unable to capitalize on their momentum from Friday’s game. The Mammoths came into Saturday’s doubleheader seeking some redemption for the prior day’s loss. The Continentals ended up losing 6–2 in the first game and 9–3 in the second game.
Hamilton currently sits in eighth place out of ten teams in the NESCAC with their 4–5 conference record. Hamilton is a part of the West Division, which also includes Amherst, Middlebury, Wesleyan, and Williams. The top two teams from the West division will compete against the top two teams from the East Division, which is comprised of Bates, Bowdoin, Colby, Trinity, and Tufts.
In the West Division, Hamilton is currently in last place, behind Amherst with a 5–4 NESCAC record in first. The other three teams are tied with 3–3 records. With two NESCAC games against Trinity and Williams remaining, the East Conference Williams game is especially important. Unfortunately, the two teams under Hamilton in the general standings, Bowdoin (3–6) and Colby (0–6), are not in Hamilton’s West Division.
With hopes of bouncing back from the losses and rekindling the energy they had in the first day against the Mammoths, the Continentals are preparing for their last several games in the 2019 season. The team will next travel to Hartford, C.T. where they will play a 2-game series against Trinity on Saturday, April 20.
The final slate of regular season games will come against St. Lawrence, Williams, SUNY Polytechnic, and Utica. These games, especially the two NESCAC games against Trinity and Williams, will determine the playoff seedings for the 2019 post-season. The next home game will be against St. Lawrence at the Loop Road Baseball/Softball Complex on Tuesday, April 23, at 4:00 PM.
