Amherst, Mass. – April 2, 2014 - Brent Poulin (Atascadero, Calif.) led the Springfield College men’s baseball team on Wednesday, going 2-for-4 with a home run, three RBI and a run scored, despite falling to host Amherst, 9-4.

Five other members of the Springfield squad recorded a hit as they totaled seven for the game.

Amherst was led by Conner Gunn, who went 3-for-4 with two RBI, a double and a home run. The Jeffs tallied 14 hits to improve to 12-3 on the season, while the Pride fell to 5-7 with the loss.

Offensively, four Jeffs recorded two or more hits. Eric West went 2-for-4 with a home run, three RBI and one run scored. Anthony Spina was 2-for-3 from the plate with two stolen bases and one run while Andrew Vandini finished 2-for-4 with two RBI and a run scored.

Gunn homered over the right field fence with two outs in the bottom of the first to start the scoring. On the next at-bat, Alex Hero was hit by a pitch and Mike Odenwaelder then singled to left before West hit another home run to left field to give Amherst a 4-0 lead after one.

The Pride retaliated in the top of the second. Billy Paskowski (Wappingers Falls, N.Y.) started things with a single to left field. The next batter, first baseman Poulin, hit a deep one to center field to cut the deficit to two.

After a scoreless third, the Jeffs tacked on two more in the bottom of the fourth. Cunningham singled up the middle on the first at-bat. He advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt by Tyler Jacobs. Spina then reached on an error to advance Cunningham and later stole first to put runners on second and third. In the next at-bat, Vandini drove in both runners to extend the Amherst lead, 6-2.

  Both teams exchanged runs in the fifth inning to keep the four-run margin heading into the sixth. With two Pride runners on, Poulin singled through the left side to drive in one run but a pinpoint throw from Spina in left field to Gunn tossed out the second runner.

Amherst added two more runs in the bottom half of the inning. Vandini was hit by a pitch to reach base and crossed home on the next at-bat when Kasuga connected on a double to center field. Kasuga later scored in the inning when Gunn brought him in with another double as the Jeffs took a 9-4 lead.

Springfield will return to action on Thursday, hosting MIT for a NEWMAC match up. At 2:45, the two teams will finish their 14 inning 1-1 tie that was suspended. After the conclusion of that game, the squads will play a full nine inning game.