June 18th, 2022
AMSTERDAM, NY — After two days off, the Mohawks were back in action from the Shuttleworth Park on Friday night. The Boonville Baseball Club (4-4) came to town and left with an 11-0 loss in seven innings as Amsterdam improved to 9-1.
Cade Citelli (UT-Arlington) made his second start on the mound for the Mohawks, pitching a scoreless five innings while limiting Boonville to just a pair of hits. The redshirt freshman racked up seven strikeouts against just two walks. Over his first two starts, Citelli has pitched 10 scoreless innings highlighted by an impressive 14-3 strikeout to walk ratio. Relievers Von Baker (Cornell) and Ryan Van Buren (Maryland) combined to record the final six outs, allowing one hit with three strikeouts and two walks.
On offense, Amsterdam scored early and often. The Mohawks took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first after a passed ball allowed Gage Miller (Bishop State CC) to score from third base. Amsterdam would load the bases just minutes later after Boonville starter Ryan McWilliams (Charleston) gave out two straight walks, but a lineout from Hunter Thomas (Rend Lake CC) led directly to a double play which ended the inning. Brett Coker (Middle Tennessee State) would bat in his first RBI of the summer with runners on the corners and two outs in the third inning. Ian Petrutz (Maryland) came home to increase the lead to 2-0.
In the bottom of the fourth, Cameron Love (Rutgers) made a splash. McWilliams got himself into more trouble, issuing three consecutive walks to load the bases with one out. Love broke the game wide open as he slashed a ball fair down the left-field line to clear the basepaths with a three-run double. Cade Bush (Florida State), Josh Overbeek (Pittsburgh), and Nick Giamarusti (Pittsburgh) all scored to up the lead to 5-0. Ryan McWilliams responded by allowing the next two batters to reach, loading the bases once more.
Reliever Daniel Snyder (Union) came in relief of McWilliams in hopes to limit any more damage, but thanks to three consecutive passed balls from catcher Conner Lynch (Herkimer CC), all three Mohawks baserunners scored. At the end of four, Amsterdam owned an 8-0 lead. RBI groundouts from Overbeek and Giamarusti in the fifth, plus a bases-loaded walk from Jaden Bongiorno (SUNY Brome CC) in the sixth, helped to end Friday night’s contest after less than seven full innings. The Mohawks had nearly twice as many walks (13) as they did hits (7), and also took advantage of three Boonville errors.
Tonight at 6:35, Amsterdam can get win number 10 on the young season as it hosts Oneonta in Rao Family Stadium. At the same time, Boonville is back at home with an opportunity to rebound against Glens Falls.