Castleton, Vt. – The Castleton baseball team was unable to get much offense going and suffered a 9-1 defeat at the hands of Amherst on Wednesday afternoon in non-conference action. 

The Spartans managed three hits as John Cook got the start and went 6.0 innings, giving up just two hits while striking out four. Offensively, Chaz Millet went 1-for-2 and Brian Martin drove in the team's lone run as Castleton dropped to 12-6 on the year. The Lord Jeffs improved to 13-5 with the victory. 

Amherst got on the board quickly, scoring twice in the opening frame. Brendon Hardin singled and Taiki Kasuga singled and walked to lead off the game and came around to score for the 2-0 advantage. The Jeffs added a run in the second on a RBI bunt single by Jonathan Ramirez.

Castleton kept Amherst off the board until the sixth when the Jeffs put up three runs, two earned, on junior Ethan Macura. Amherst added three more runs in the eighth off Cooper Long to extend its lead to 9-0. 

The Spartans threatened in the bottom of the ninth as Ryan Zielinski led off with a walk, stole second and advanced to third on a throwing error by the catcher. Borowski was hit by a pitch to put runners on the corners and Martin grounded out to shortstop, scoring Zielinksi. However, he was stranded as two of the next three batters grounded out to end the game. 

Sophomore Matt Ravey took the loss, starting the game and going the first three innings, giving up three earned runs on five hits while striking out a single batter. Derek Osborne pitched a scoreless ninth for the Spartans. 

Hardin finished 3-for-6 for the Jeffs while Kasuga had three hits and scored twice and Ramirez went 3-for-4 with an RBI. Four other pitchers combined with Cook to earn the victory. 

Castleton returns to action this weekend when they face St. Joseph's of Maine at 2:30 pm for one game.