MANSFIELD, Conn. -- The Amherst College baseball team batted around in the first inning, scoring five runs on four hits, two walks, a hit batter and error and went on to a 14-7 non-conference victory over Eastern Connecticut State University Thursday night at the Eastern Baseball Stadium.

Amherst (7-9) reached seven Eastern (11-8) pitchers for 12 hits and was also the recipient of eight walks, four hit batsmen and seven wild pitches and a defense which commited five errors.

Making his first start in eight days – first this year at home --Eastern junior  Ben Ruddock (Deerfield, MA) was lifted after four batters ( two hits, two walks, two wild pitches) and lost his second game in as many decisions this year. The first six Amherst batters reached safely in the first inning, the first five scoring.

Leading 6-1, Amherst scored three runs on two hits and two errors in the fourth – highlighted by Nick Nardone's two-run home run -- and added four more in the fifth on two hits, two wild pitches, a passed ball, and another error.

Trailing 13-1, Eastern batted around and got six runs back in the seventh, with three reserves driving in the runs. Freshman pinch hitter John Mesagno (Tappan, NY) plated three with a bases-clearing, opposite-field triple. Sophomore William Coleman (Northford) drove in the first run with a triple and sophomore Dale Keller (Oxford) followed two batters with an RBI single through the right side – his first hit and RBI of the year. Mesagno's blast was his first career triple and doubled his RBI totals this year.

Sophomore righty Davis Brown (1-1) pitched the first six innings for Amherst allowing just one unearned run, spacing two hits, fanning three and walking six.

Nardone was 3-for-4 with five RBI, three runs scored and a sacrifice fly.  Harry Roberson had three hits, scored a run and drove in one, and Yanni Thanopoulos reached safely three times with two hits and a walk, scored two runs and drove in two.

Five different batters had one hit each for Eastern. Sophomore Alexander White (West Hartford) reached three times for the Warriors on walks and scored two runs.

Eastern sophomore lefty Noah Gulino (Farmington) and senior righty Luis Vega (Willimantic) combined on the final four hitless innings. In his second appearance of the year, Gulino fanned two and walked three in two innings, and in his third showing of the year, Vega allowed only an unearned run with a strikeout and walk over the final two innings.

Eastern visits the University of Massachusetts Boston Saturday at noon in a Little East Conference doubleheader. UMass is 3-1 in the LEC, Eastern 1-3. Last year, the Beacons shared the LEC regular-season title, but the Warriors won the LEC tournament title on UMB's field.