Ackermann, Alcorn Combine For Four Hits But Baseball Suffers Loss To Amherst

3/15/2011 12:00:00 AM

WINTER HAVEN, Fla. (March 15, 2011) – Senior catcher Denis Ackermann and junior TJ Alcorn finished the day 2-for-3, but the Stevens Institute of Technology baseball team fell to Amherst College 8-0 in Winter Haven, Fla. With the loss, the Ducks dropped to 1-5 overall on the season, while the Lord Jeffs improved to 3-2 on the year. Stevens will look to break back into the win column against Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute on Wednesday, March 16.

Despite having retired six straight batters, Ducks' senior righthander Kenneth Meerendonk ran into a bit of trouble in Amherst's half of the fourth, as the Lord Jeffs finally broke through, putting three on the board. With runners already on second and third after back-to-back lead-off singles from Kevin Heller (Brooklyn , N.Y.) and Mike Samela (Westport, Conn.), Meerendonk responded by inducing consecutive outs on a ground out back to the mound and a fly out to left, but Lord Jeffs sophomore third baseman Nolan Stewart (New Canaan, Conn.) promptly ripped a big two-out, two-RBI double to right center to keep the inning alive.

Amherst freshman Taiki Kasuga (New York, N.Y.) would then reach on a Stevens error, allowing Stewart to advance to third, before senior leftfielder Brian Merrigan (Holbrook, Mass.) singled back up the middle, driving in the Lord Jeffs' third run of the day.

After a scoreless fifth, Amherst looked to build on their lead in the bottom of the sixth inning, loading the bases on consecutive Stewart and Kasuga lead-off singles and a Merrigan hit-by-pitch. Sophomore Bob Cook (Winnetka, Ill.) then lifted a sacrifice fly to center, scoring Stewart, before fellow sophomore Dan Pillitteri (Ramsey, N.J.) launched another sacrifice into the outfield to drive in Kasuga.

Amherst would tack on two more runs in the bottom half of the seventh on Thomas Wheeler's (Minnetonka, Minn.) two-run home run to left before closing out scoring with Heller's two-out RBI-single up the middle in the eighth.

Ackermann and Alcorn each finished 2-for-3 on the day, while Russ Grimes and freshman Shane Raymond also recorded a pair of base knocks for the Ducks.

Meerendonk allowed five runs on eight hits in six innings en route to his second loss of the season, while freshman lefty Fred Shepard (Amherst, Mass.) scattered five hits without allowing a run in seven innings of work.
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