HS Baseball: Underclassmen-heavy Amherst building for the future

AMHERST — It wouldn’t be unreasonable to believe that some coaches in the midst of a difficult losing season begin counting the days until it’s over around this time of year. And players on that team may feel the exact same way.

But that’s not the case with this year’s Amherst Regional baseball team. Sure, the Hurricanes are 1-14 and have been outscored by an average of 13 runs on their current 10-game losing streak, but that hasn’t stopped head coach Jeff Gladu and his players from showing up with the same attitude on a daily basis.

Amherst has one senior on its roster, Nate Ziomek. Two juniors are on the squad and the rest are a combination of sophomores, freshmen and even some players who are still in middle school. Despite having such little experience and just one victory all year, Gladu said it’s been one of his most enjoyable years as a baseball coach.

“This is one of – if not – my favorite team I’ve ever coached,” Gladu said. “We don’t have a ton of experience, but it doesn’t matter if we’re playing Hopkins, Frontier or any of the Berkshire teams who are all built off upperclassmen, these guys show up and play.”

Gladu has had his team steal bases at an extremely high rate this year, something that hasn’t been the case in years past. His philosophy is pretty simple: if Amherst is going to go down, it might as well go down swinging. Any time the ‘Canes have a base runner, there’s a good chance he’ll be headed for second.

The Amherst offense has been serviceable all season. The Hurricanes have only been shut out twice in 15 contests this year – much of that can be credited to their aggressiveness on the base paths.

“I’m proud of these kids every day,” Gladu said. “I don’t care what the score is at the end of the game, it’s ‘Did my guys compete today?’... We don’t have big rallies. We’re a team that scores three, four runs a game, but we compete. We run like a bunch of maniacs. We just have to find some guys that can consistently throw strikes, and then we’ll see the results come from it.”

Those reinforcements may be on the way in the coming years. Amherst’s Sandy Koufax program – coached by Sanjay Arwade and Jasper Adams, former Amherst baseball players – is thriving, and there are a handful of talented players who can play a variety of positions eager for a taste of varsity baseball. Gladu is just as eager to have them.

Over the last three years, Amherst has a record of 10-40. Gladu promised that the program is going to turn around sooner rather than later.

“The future is bright for us,” he said. “I’m excited to see where this team is in two or three years. I know that these kids play hard every day. We’re developing guys on the fly right now. But as far as the future of Amherst baseball, people can write us off but I’m telling you, look out for us. Most of the coaches that I’ve coached against this year pull us aside and say, ‘Hey, you have some great pieces to work with.’ We’re not going to get pushed around.”

Just because the ‘Canes record isn’t great, doesn’t mean they don’t have talent on the team. Amherst has been in the mix in a handful of games this spring, but unfortunately can’t sustain its good stretches for a full seven innings.

In Monday’s 17-6 loss to Easthampton, Amherst hung with the Eagles over the third, fourth and fifth innings. The Hurricanes were outscored 7-6 in those three frames, but they started out of the gates slowly – surrendering 10 runs across the first two frames. With a deeper pitching rotation and some depth coming in 2026, Amherst has the tools for a bounce-back campaign.

“I’ll run these guys against anybody,” Gladu said. “We’ve had some good games this year. We’re a team that hangs around for two or three innings and then we run out of steam. We’re probably about two or three guys away, which we’re getting next year. We have five eighth graders coming up next year; three of them pitch and one is an every day catcher. They can fill our holes.”

Amherst’s last game of the regular season comes this Friday against Northampton. First pitch is slated for 5:15 p.m. at Northampton High School.

Updated baseball/softball power rankings (as of May 13)

BASEBALL

Division 2

Holyoke (2-13 record, No. 51 ranking)

Northampton (0-13), No. 52

Amherst (1-14), No. 55

Division 3

Belchertown (10-4), No. 27

Division 4

Frontier (10-6), No. 14

Hampshire (7-6), No. 21

Smith Vocational (10-3), No. 24

South Hadley (6-8), No. 43

Division 5

Hopkins (10-7), No. 6

Easthampton (5-11), No. 24

Gateway (3-6), No. 44

Granby (2-12), No. 45

Smith Academy (2-12), No. 49

SOFTBALL

Division 2

Northampton (6-8), No. 48

Holyoke (5-11), No. 56

Amherst (0-10), No. 61

Division 3

Belchertown (7-3), No. 44

Division 4

Hampshire (16-1), No. 1

Frontier (10-5), No. 8

South Hadley (9-4), No. 10

Smith Vocational (5-5), No. 37

Easthampton (1-14), No. 43

Division 5

Hopkins (13-3), No. 10

Granby (10-5), No. 21

Gateway (1-8), No. 47

Smith Academy (1-13), No. 51