LITTLE FALLS, NY – There would be no more heroics for the Mohawk Valley Diamond Dawgs this time. After all the extra-inning heroics just to get the second seed, the defending champion just wouldn’t allow it.
The Saugerties Stallions, thanks to a home run by Evan Goforth, move on to the Eastern Division Final, knocking off the Diamond Dawgs, 6-4 in 12 innings.
Saugerties got on the board just four batters in, when Garrison Berkley (Aledo, TX/TCU) looped a pitch into right field, scoring Goforth. They’d double the lead, thanks to a line drive off the Mohawk Valley pitcher’s ankle and into center field by Garrett Michel (Virginia Tech).
Marshall Awtry (Hockessin, DE/Goldey-Beacom) cut the lead in half in the second, thanks to a rocket off of his bat that scored Noah Lucier (Sandown, NH/Fairfield). The lead went back to 2 in the sixth, thanks to an RBI single by JP Tighe.
That lead would last one whole inning, though as Garrett Musey (Millville, NJ/Goldey-Beacom) smashed another home run, almost in the same place he put it in left field yesterday. His 12th home run of the season scored himself and Evan Berta (/Fairfield), tying the game at three.
It would be a long time before the score changed, but the final blow was struck in the top of the twelfth, thanks to a long home run to center field by Evan Goforth (Borden, IN/Indiana). A couple of wild pitches sealed the deal, and Praxie Vigil (Colorado Springs, CO/ Webber) surrendered only one run – an RBI by Ernesto Polanco (West New York, NJ/Charleston Southern) but that would be all he would give up, picking up the win in the 12th.
Billy Hoffacker (Erial, NJ/RCSJ Gloucester) got the loss for Mohawk Valley.
Saugerties will move on to play in the Eastern Division Final on Tuesday, where they will travel to Amsterdam to take on the Mohawks.