The Mohawk Valley DiamondDawgs hosted the Oneonta Outlaws on Friday night at Veteran’s Memorial Park as they looked to snap a three game slide. 

The DiamondDawgs started John Means (West Virginia) 3-2, 0.97 ERA who cruised through the first two innings shutting down the first six batters he faced and another in the third. The Outlaws followed by scoring in the top of the third when Omar Garcia (State College of Florida) singled and Cory Hunt (Utah) doubled leading to the quick 1-0 lead. The Outlaws struck again in the fifth when Clay Holcomb (Troy) and Omar Garcia (State College of Florida) singled, Cory Hunt (Utah) bunted the runners over and a Orlando Rivera (State College of Florida) singled and plated a runner and the Outlaws took a 2-0 lead.

The DiamondDawgs tied up the ball game in the seventh after Eric Helmrich (Marist) belted his eighth home run of the year, a two run shot.  The lead did not last long after Zac Johnson (Illinois State) followed with a solo homerin in the eighth and the Outlaws took a 3-2 lead.  The DiamondDawgs responded quickly in the bottom half of the eighth when Heck walked, Chris Cruz reached second on an error and Del Grande’s sacrifice fly tied the game at three. Jack Morrow (Young Harris) then walked and Eric Helmrich (Marist) doubled to left to score two more runs and the Dawgs took a 5-3 lead.

Zander Wiel (Vanderbilt) welcomed Salvatore Lisanti (Bryant) into the game in the ninth with a solo home run and the lead was cut to 5-4. However, Lisanti was able to get Rivera to ground out to end a rally which had Oneonta with runners at the corners.  The DiamondDawgs snapped a three game losing streak to win 5-4.

Raymond Morton (Norfolk State) picked up the win with two innings of work giving up two hits, one run, a walk and two strikeouts.  Starter John Means went six innings and gave up seven hits, two runs and three strikeouts.  Lisanti finished out the game with an inning of work with three hits, a run and a strikeout and recorded the save.

Heck finished 2 for 3 with an RBI and Helmrich was 2 for 3 with a double, a homerun, a run scored and four RBI.  The Oneonta offense was led by Zak Johnson who hit a solo homerun, Zander Wiel who also had a homerun, a double, one run and an RBI in his 2 for 4 performances.

The loss went to Nick Cioffi (Towson) who gave up a hit, three runs, two walks and strikeout while starter Sosebee gave up five hits, two runs, and a walk and picked up seven strikeouts.