Following a prep career at Round Rock's Westwood High School, Amiel Gross enrolled at Southwestern University in the fall of 1992. The following spring, he became an impact player for the Pirates baseball team under legendary head coach Jim Mallon. During his Southwestern career, Gross was a three-time ABCA/Rawlings All-American and was twice named SCAC Player of the Year. The career .399 hitter also was named to the SCAC Baseball 15th Anniversary Team. As a sophomore, Gross led the nation in home runs per game, while his four doubles in a game against Trinity on April 14, 1995, are tied for the second-most in NCAA Division III history. He led the Pirates to the 1996 SCAC Championship and a berth in the NCAA Midwest Regional. He led the SCAC in hits, doubles, runs and RBIs in his final two campaigns. Gross also was a two-time GTE Academic All-American, member of Phi Beta Kappa and became the first Southwestern student-athlete to receive the prestigious NCAA Post-Graduate Scholarship. He graduated magna cum laude from Southwestern with a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1996 and attended the University of Texas School of Law.