Amherst experiences roller coaster of emotions
by PATRICK J. NAGY Reporter

You name the type of game and the Amherst Central baseball team more than likely experienced it last week.

The Tigers came from behind to win, were almost no-hit and lost and were dominated at times throughout its five games played.

"When I got on the bus or headed to the field, I was asking myself, what team is going to show up today?" said Tigers coach Brian Davis.

Amherst's roller coaster week saw the team split league games with Hamburg and Williamsville East before a tough outing at Lake Shore.

The Tigers opened the week with a 7-2 road win at Hamburg on Monday, April 30. With the game tied at 2-2, Amherst scored five runs in the fourth inning, four courtesy of a grand slam home run from the bat of Andrew Hays. Hays finished 2 for 3 with four RBIs and scored twice.

Derek Duke pitched a complete game five-hitter for the win. He allowed one earned run and struck out one batter.

The rematch on Thursday, May 3 at Amherst was a game the Tigers could have won had it not been for mistakes in the field. Amherst committed 11 errors, eight between third base and shortstop, enroute to a 10-7, eight-inning defeat.

Trailing 5-1, Amherst scored five runs in the bottom of the fifth, beginning with a run by Will Gowen, to take a 6-5 lead. In the bottom of the seventh, Geoff Gallson tied the score at 7-7 when he scored after the Hamburg pitcher balked.

Hamburg scored three times in the top of the eighth. Amherst had the tying run on first in the bottom of the eighth but could not advance the runner.

Shaun Garus threw six innings and allowed seven hits and two earned runs. Duke got the loss, striking out four over the last two innings..

As a team, the Tigers only had four hits.

The Tigers' games with East were two different stories. On Tuesday, May 1, East's Zach Miller flirted with a no-hitter until the seventh as the Flames defeated Amherst, 2-1, at the Pepsi Center. The next day, Amherst came back from a 9-3 deficit to win 12-11 at home.

In the first Amherst-East meeting, Miller threw 79 pitches, including 56 for strikes. Miller had nine strikeouts, improving his record to 4-0 with a 1.544 ERA. He also has thrown 21 strikeouts in 22.2 innings pitched. Opposing batters are hitting .134.

Duke and Andrew Gibson had Amherst's only hits off Miller. Duke's was an RBI single that brought in Gowen.

East banged out seven hits with Nick Weigel leading the way with a pair of singles. Eric Charlton's RBI single in the fourth knocked in Mark Guenther for the winning run.

Amherst's Mike Yanity threw a complete game five-hitter, allowing one earned run and striking out one batter.

Down 9-3, the Tigers scored seven runs in the sixth in the team's second meeting to go ahead, 10-9. Alex Dusenberry, Tom Ponticelli, Gowen, Duke, Zach Willet, Brandon Jeffords and Gallson all scored. East committed three of its five errors in the inning.

"The key was we were putting the ball into play," said Davis. "We also stole three bases and one of our batters was hit."

East tied the score in the seventh. Miller, who reached first base on a strikeout when the ball got away from the catcher, stole second and scored on a Gary Styn double.

East took an 11-10 lead in the top of the eighth after Guenther led off with a triple and Chris Schiumo laid down a safety squeeze. In the bottom of the eighth, a Chris Eyeington single scored Ponticelli and with the bases loaded, Jeffords was walked on four straight pitches for the winning run.

"As we started to turn it around in the sixth, the team got fired up and we could see if we played our game, we could beat them," said Davis.

Davis said Hays and Jeffords held East to six hits and his team had nine hits at the plate. East coach Jerry Gasz disagreed, saying his team out hit Amherst, 14-11. According to Gasz, Mike Zeoli had three hits and Mike Ferguson, Eric Charlton and Styn had two hits each.

Eyeington was 3 for 5 for Amherst, including the game-tying RBI in the eighth. Duke was 3 for 4 with three runs scored.

Amherst closed out the week with a surprising 24-6 loss at Lake Shore on Friday, May 4. The Tigers trailed 10-0 after the second inning and 15-0 after the third inning.

"We made errors, not a ton, but they definitely outplayed us," said Davis. "It was the first time all year that our pitching did not come through."

Heading into the Lake Shore game, Amherst's pitching staff had an ERA under three.

Amherst (3-8, 3-6) played at Newfane on Monday, May 7 but results were unavailable before The Bee went to press. The Tigers travel to Williamsville South on Wednesday, May 9 and host Iroquois on Friday, May 11. Both games are 4:30 p.m. starts.

e-mail: pnagy@beenews.com