By Josh McMullen – Mohawk Valley Diamond Dawgs
LITTLE FALLS, NY – It was a matchup of streaks on Thursday night: the Amsterdam Mohawks’ nine in a row against the Mohawk Valley Diamond Dawgs’ five in a row. The question on everyone’s mind was: whose would remain intact after nine innings at Veteran’s Memorial Park?
It took about two innings to figure out the answer to that question.
Thanks to a five-run second inning by the Diamond Dawgs, the Mohawks’ winning streak to start the season ended at nine, 8-2 on Thursday night.
Mark Darakjy (Randolph, NJ/St. Bonaventure) started things off in the second with a bloop single into left field. That bloop hit would score Sam Miller (McMurray, PA/Columbia) and Justin Hackett (Wallingford, CT/Bryant). Owen Pincince (North Haven, CT/New Haven) and Corey Adams (Richmond, VA/William and Mary)would pick up an RBI apiece on back-to-back at-bats. Pincince would score on a passed ball two batters later to make it a five-run game after two innings.
Miller would extend the Mohawk Valley lead to six on another passed ball in the fifth.
The Mohawks would finally get on the board in the sixth, thanks to a bloop single by Gage Miller (Palmyra, PA/Bishop State CC), scoring Luke Zeisloft (Bloomsburg, PA/Maryland). Miller came home on a throwing error to cut the lead to four.
Back-to-back hits by Pincince and Adams put the lead back to five, thanks to an RBI single to center field by Adams. They extended the lead on an RBI single by Nick Sturino (New Milford, CT/Fairfield) in the eighth, scoring Brady Shannon (Youngstown, OH/Central Florida).
That was all Aidan Colagrande (Kings Park, NY/Fairfield) would need heading into the ninth, retiring the last nine Amsterdam batters he saw to extend the Diamond Dawgs’ win streak to six.
Kevin Kell (Blue Bell, PA/Fairfield) got the win for Mohawk Valley (7-2). Carson Pierce (Edmond, OK/Oklahoma) got the loss for Amsterdam (9-1).
Both teams will be at home on Friday night, as Amsterdam will head back to Shuttleworth Park to take on the Albany Dutchmen. The Diamond Dawgs will be back home to finish a two-game home stand against the Oneonta Outlaws.