Baseball Falls to Amherst in Cusic Finale

FORT MYERS, Fla. – The Mitchell College baseball team wrapped up its spring trip with a 12-8 loss to Amherst College on Monday morning at the Cusic Classic.

The Mariners led 5-1 after three innings but fell behind in the sixth when Amherst struck for nine runs. Mitchell scored two runs in the eighth and another in the ninth and brought the tying run to the plate before the Purple & White closed it out.

Kyle Hartenstein wrapped up a solid spring trip with a 2-for-4 effort at the plate, extending his hitting streak to 10 games. The reigning NECC Player of the Week is batting .514 this season and leads the team with 19 hits.

After Amherst scored a run in the top of the first, Mitchell responded with three in the home half to take the early lead. Connor Farmer plated the first run with a ground out and Chandler Whitney followed with a two-run single that scored Tyler Pina and Francis Prettitore.

The Mariners added a run in the second on a Hartenstein double and another in the third on a fielder's choice by Steven Pagan. Amherst responded with two runs in the fourth to cut the deficit to 5-3.

The Purple & White pounded out nine runs on eight hits in the sixth to seize control. Reliever Eddie Santiago got the Mariners out of the inning and combined with Nic Vlaun to shut down the Amherst offense for the rest of the game.

Mitchell got two runs back in the eighth on a single by Steven Gonzalez that scored Garet Griffin and Mike Luzzi. Dan Frattaroli drew a bases-loaded walk in the ninth to bring the tying run to the plate, but Amherst got the next batter to ground out.

Mitchell starter Axel De Jesus lasted 5.1 innings and gave up eight runs (four earned) on 10 hits and struck out three. Santiago allowed only one hit in 1.1 innings of work while Vlaun retired six straight batters in 2.0 innings of action.

Mitchell (8-2 overall, 3-0 NECC) returns to action on Saturday, March 10 at Southern Vermont College. The first game of the scheduled doubleheader begins at noon.