AMHERST - Fred Shepard described his baseball team's current state as "permanent fire."

That pretty much sums up the way Amherst Regional is playing these days.

The Hurricanes continued their hot streak with a 10-1 victory over Valley League foe Holyoke on Wednesday night.

Amherst has won four straight and 7-of-8. The team has scored at least 10 runs in six of those games.

"We come ready," said Shepard, who led the Hurricanes with four runs batted in. "We do anything for the win."

Amherst (8-3, 3-0) will attempt to keep its run going when it plays at defending sectional champion Westfield at 4 p.m. today The Bombers (12-1) are 4-0 in the league.

"It's a very competitive league and always is every year," Amherst coach Greg Vouros said. "We weren't hitting like this early in the year and we talked about getting better every day. We're starting to find it a little bit."

Fortunately for Westfield it won't have to face Kevin Ziomek. The junior southpaw labored through the first inning against Holyoke (8-5, 1-3) but found his groove and cruised to a three-hitter over six innings.

"They did a good job," Vouros said. "They made him work early. I was impressed with the way they came out. They swung the momentum."

Ziomek struck out 14, walked four and allowed one run as he improved to 4-1. He threw a season-high 113 pitches, including 33 in the first inning.

"We thought they would be aggressive early and it turned out they were taking pitches," Ziomek said. "They worked the count well. It just got to me and I couldn't find the zone."

Ziomek struck out the first two batters of the game looking, then allowed a full-count single to Billy Sullivan. During the next at bat, Ziomek caught Sullivan in a rundown but was called for a balk.

Sullivan then stole third and Ziomek walked Jon Robert to put runners at the corners.

A wild pitch scored Sullivan with Holyoke's lone run. Ziomek then walked Jose Rivera and escaped any more trouble when he fanned Cody McGillicuddy for the final out.

The balk may have contributed to his first-inning struggles.

"I have no idea if it was a balk or not but it was real close and it was frustrating," Ziomek said. "It was tough to get back on track."

Ziomek put the inning behind him quickly when his teammates plated three runs for a 3-1 lead after one.

Following a leadoff strikeout, Evan Hazelett reached first on a dropped-third strike. Sean Cunningham singled to left then Hazelett scored on a double by Shepard.

Cunningham scored on a Matt Musante single and Shepard scored on a single by Derek Osborne.

"We came back and scored three runs and that just boosts your confidence," Ziomek said. "I know I got my team behind me."

Ziomek cruised after the first. He struck out two in an 11-pitch second, three in a 14-pitch third, two in a 20-pitch fourth and one in a 10-pitch fifth. He allowed a walk and a single in a 25-pitch sixth but struck out the side to end his night.

"I was in a big hole and threw a lot of pitches but it was tough to get out of that," Ziomek said. "I did a good job managing my pitches after that" first.

Amherst padded its lead with one run in the second, three in the fourth and three in the fifth. Shepard capped the scoring with a towering three-run single. The high fly ball fell in between the shortstop and center fielder.

Dean Bonneau (two runs), Hazelett (three runs, RBI), Cunningham (three hits, two runs, RBI), Shepard (two hits, four RBIs, run) and Chuck Hebb (two hits, run) supplied the offense.

Mike Moran can be reached at mmoran@gazettenet.com.