AMHERST, Mass. – Castleton State College allowed runs in all but two innings, and could muster just three of its own in a 15-3 setback at Amherst College in non-conference baseball action Thursday afternoon at Memorial Field.
 
Mike Samela (Westport, Conn.) went 3-for-3 with four runs scored and Dylan Driscoll (Mount Airy, Md.) pitched six strong innings to lead the Lord Jeffs (15-5) to their fifth win in a row and eighth out of their past nine, while the Spartans (17-9) had their winning streak snapped at 12. Amherst is 3-0 against Castleton in the all-time series, which began in 2010.

Amherst scored in six of the eight innings in which it batted, with Nolan Stewart (New Canaan, Conn.) extending his hitting streak to nine games by going 2-for-4 with four RBIs. Ryan D'Souza (Huntington, Conn.) drove in three runs and Samela plated two, while sophomores Taiki Kasuga (New York, N.Y.) and Alex Hero (New York, N.Y.) chipped in with two hits apiece.

The Spartans committed six errors and were held to only four hits by an Amherst pitching staff that has posted a 1.99 ERA in its past nine games. Ryan Zielinski (Schenectady, N.Y.) and Pete Wagner (Brattleboro, Vt.) each went 1-for-4, while Joe Borowski (Schenectady, N.Y.) and Nate Swahn (Rutland, Vt.) were a combined 2-for-5.

Driscoll (W, 3-0) retired the first 11 batters he faced and finished with six strikeouts, surrendering one earned run on three hits and a pair of walks.

Samela put Amherst on the board in the bottom of the first with a two-run double to left, and came around to score on a single from Stewart. The Jeffs tacked on another two in the third when Stewart laced a double to left center, giving Driscoll a comfortable 5-0 lead.
 
Driscoll carried a perfect game into the fourth, but Zielinski broke it up with a two-out single to left field and scored the Spartans' first run on a double by Borowski. Driscoll struck out the first two batters of the fifth but surrendered another run when Adam Greenlese walked and later scored on a wild pitch to make it a 5-2 game.

Amherst pushed its lead to 8-2 by scoring two runs on groundouts and another on an error in the home half of the fifth. The Jeffs added another three in the sixth, thanks to a bases-loaded walk and two more RBI groundouts.

After Joyce struck out the side in the seventh, D'Souza brought the score to 12-2 with a sacrifice fly to deep center. Ramos followed suit with a deep fly ball that scored Amherst's 13th run in the eighth, and D'Souza capped off his team's scoring with a two-RBI double to left center.

Castleton got one back in the ninth when pinch runner Greg Vreeland (Becket, Mass.) stole second, advanced to third on a single and scored on an RBI groundout from Zak Mayo (Avon, Conn.), bringing the final score to 15-3.
 
Matt Ravey (Colchester, Vt.) surrendered five runs on eight hits in the first four innings, and was saddled with the loss.

The Spartans will resume their conference schedule by welcoming Husson to town for a four-game set on Friday and Saturday with doubleheaders scheduled for 2 pm and 11 am respectively.