Northampton held off a furious Amherst rally Wednesday in Florence to reach the Western Mass. Suburban Koufax Division championship.

After falling behind 8-0, Amherst scored seven unanswered runs to give itself a shot at the end before ultimately dropping an 8-7 decision.

Henry Drinker and JJ Scanlon-Dean singled, while Oscar Reich doubled. Drinker also threw three scoreless innings of relief.

Colin Beganny and Graham Van Giessen brought in runs with ground outs, and Max Lashway brought across another with a walk. Amherst put the tying run on second base in the seventh but couldn’t bring him home.

Amherst starter Greg King struck out eight in three innings.

Northampton pitcher Chris Wisemore allowed just two runs and three hits over four innings to earn the win. He struck out six.

Northampton will face either South Hadley or Frontier for the championship.

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