Before Joe Taff got a haircut last summer, one could easily have confused him with a certain religious figure. To be fair, he has probably heard that joke a few too many times, but, if you’ve ever witnessed his guitar chops firsthand, you know the comparison is more than appropriate.
Coming into the weekend series with Wesleyan, it wasn’t much of a secret that the Jeffs owned one of the toughest pitching staffs in the league.
Despite a walk-off, 1-0 loss in the first game of a Sunday doubleheader, the baseball team continued its strong play over the weekend, taking two of three games from a fiesty Hamilton team.
The Continentals entered the weekend at just 9-15, but they played the Jeffs, who have now improved to 18-6, tightly in all three games. The loss they handed the Jeffs on Saturday was Amherst’s first in NESCAC play.
For the second straight weekend, the Jeffs came up big, recording a sweep against a conference rival. This time, it was the Ephs who fell victim to the Jeffs’ all-around solid play, dropping three straight to help the Jeffs bump their winning streak to eight.
If this weekend’s success is any indication of events to come, the Jeffs will find themselves right back in the thick of things come NESCAC playoff time.
Facing conference rival Middlebury for a three-game weekend set, the Jeffs made a definitive statement by recording a sweep. The series was not without its hotly contested moments; Amherst won the middle game of the series by a mere 4-3 margin. Overall, however, the Jeffs had the Panthers’ number: two of their wins came by resounding 11-0 and 11-1 scores.
Baseball improved to 9-5 after a 2-1 week that saw them beat Keene State and Brandeis.
It would be difficult for the Lady Jeffs to experience more regular-season success in 2013 than they had in 2012.
To give some idea of the extent of the squad’s early-season dominance, the Jeffs won their first 22 games of 2012 while relinquishing more than three runs in only three of those contests.
After a rare loss to Keene State, the Jeffs didn’t seem to be fazed: they went on to win 12 of their next 13 and looked to be in position to coast to a NESCAC Championship.
