Road Trip: Amherst College

Middlebury starter Mike Joseph delivers to the plate at Amherst College, Amherst's John Davenport Memorial building in the background.

For the second time in a week, I found myself at a college baseball game Saturday, interviewing a CMC set member.

Last week, it was Dale Plummer, head coach of the Colby College Mules, playing at Trinity College and its field in the shadow of its Hartford campus' chapel. This past Saturday, it was Jim Neidlinger, pitching coach for Vermont's Middlebury College, playing at Massachusetts' Amherst College.

Both schools are members of the Division III New England Small College Athletic Conference. The occasion interview Plummer in Hartford was it was the closest Colby came to my base in Upstate NY.

The occasion for the visit to Amherst and interview Neidlinger was the perfect excuse to escape a bridal shower being hosted by my wife at our house. I've got the first part of the Neidlinger interview set to go up Tuesday.

Middlebury's Zach Roeder crosses the plate after a sixth-inning home run.

Amherst College's field was another nice one. It's a field, surrounded by a picturesque campus, similar to Trinity College. While Trinity had its chapel providing a nice backdrop for games, Amherst had some nice buildings of its own.

It's definitely a different setting for baseball than a minor league field. There's also a ravine on the first base side, with foul balls that way often bouncing in and someone having to fish them out.

The day itself was great, sunny and in the 60s. I even put on sunscreen. Amherst and Middlebury played a double header.

I could only stay for the first seven-inning contest. Sophomore Mike Joseph went all seven innings for Middlebury, giving up four hits and three earned runs. Joseph and Middlebury ended up with the win, 8-3.

Another note on the Amherst field. In front of the home side stands is a marker reading "The center field flag flies high during baseball games in memory of Brock J. Safronoff Class of 1997 who perished in the World Trade Center September 11, 2001"

Safronoff was a four-year pitcher for Amherst and the school has a baseball award named in his honor. He also left behind a widow and fellow Amherst graduate, a woman he married just 40 days before the attacks.