Baseball Wins Southwestern Conference Championship

Baseball captured its second straight Southwestern Conference Championship on Tuesday with an 17-4 victory over Avon Lake at Avon Lake High School.

Amherst wasted no time getting on the board in the opening inning. Harrison Schneider singled home Cole Marquez to give the Comets a 1-0 lead before Zach Diedrick delivered a two-run double that scored Landon Wolf and Schneider to extend the advantage to 3-0.

After Avon Lake cut the deficit to 3-1 in the second inning, Amherst broke the game open in the fourth. Eli Toyoda and Marquez reached base ahead of a three-run home run by Cole Charles that pushed the lead to 6-1. Avon Lake answered with three runs in the bottom half to trim the margin to 6-4.

The Comets exploded offensively in the sixth inning. Cooper Bingham singled home Nick Wilkinson and Marquez to make it 8-4 before Toyoda delivered the biggest swing of the night with a grand slam that scored Cole Charles, Bingham, and Tyler Denn. Later in the inning, Marquez reached base and Gavin Ford came home to extend the lead to 13-4.

Toyoda paced the Amherst offense with a monster performance at the plate, going 3-for-4 with a grand slam, double, and six RBIs. Cael Charles picked up his 8th win on the season.