With the dynamic offense that they had shown all season, the Amsterdam Mohawks rode a heavy dose of scoring to a 13-6 win over the Glens Falls Golden Eagles to claim their first ever PGCBL Championship.  After claiming Game One in Amsterdam with a dominant pitching performance, Amsterdam’s bats carried them past a feisty Golden Eagles squad, earning them the overall championship, to go along with their regular season crown.

A seven run fourth inning, which saw the Golden Eagles go through three pitchers would prove to be the difference maker, as it gave Amsterdam a lead they would not relinquish.  Chandler Shepard (Kentucky) earned his second win of the postseason, throwing six innings in relief of Mohawks starter Chris Kalica (Fairfield).  Cory Folk (Buffalo) took the loss for Glens Falls in his first appearance of the 2012 playoffs.

Glens Falls got off to a fantastic start in the game, with a scoreless frame from Folk, and two runs of their own in the first inning.  Casey Rodrigue (LSU Eunice) started off the game with an infield single, before a double from Danny Brennan (St. Louis) to centerfield brought him around to score.  After Brennan advanced to third on a wild pitch and Alberto Morales (Clarendon) walked, Mike Vigliarolo (St. Louis) hit a sacrifice fly to push the lead to 2-0.

After trading zeroes in the second inning, Amsterdam plated two in the top half of the third.  After Folk recorded the first two outs, the Mohawks plated two runs of their own run to knot the game at two.

Following a scoreless bottom of the third, the Amsterdam offense exploded in the top of the fourth.  The Mohawks chased both Folk and Wes Judish (San Diego) from the game, before Jordan Keysor (Skidmore) came on and stopped the bleeding, but the score sat at 9-2 after four complete innings of play.

Glens Falls made it a game in the bottom of the fifth against Shepard.  Pisani led off with a single, and after Rodrigue struck out, the Golden Eagles hit four straight singles, which pushed the score to 9-5, giving Glens Falls life.  Brennan, Morales, Vigliarolo and Chase Griffin (Georgia Southern) all had hits to cut the deficit to four with four innings to play.

Keysor’s pitching kept the game close, until the eighth inning, when Amsterdam closed the door on any potential Golden Eagles comeback.  After getting Papaccio to fly out, Colby singled, Limbaugh walked and Hoagboon hit a comebacker up the middle which Keysor snagged, catching Colby between third and home for the second out.  Neil Fryer (Siena) then came on to pitch and attempt to retire the side, but Amsterdam touched up the right-hander, getting three consecutive singles to push the score line out of reach at 13-5.

Glens Falls tacked on one run in the bottom of the ninth to push the score to 13-6 but it wasn’t meant to be as Shepard recorded two outs and Connor Kaden (Wake Forest) came on for the final out.

Amsterdam ends their season with a 39-13 combined regular season and playoff record while the Golden Eagles finish with a 29-22 mark, with the Mohawks claiming the second championship in PGCBL history.