HS Baseball: Underclassmen-heavy Amherst building for the future

The Amherst baseball team huddles around head coach Jeff Gladu after Monday’s loss to Easthampton. STAFF PHOTO/GARRETT COTE
Published: 05-20-2025 11:34 AM |
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.
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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.