Amsterdam Mohawks 3, Utica Blue Sox 2 (East Division Final)
With Elmira awaiting the winner, the Mohawks picked up the East-clinching win in walk-off fashion on Tuesday night.
After a scoreless first inning, Amsterdam got on the board, with two big runs in the bottom of the second inning to invigorate their home crowd. Shortstop Marek Houston (Wake Forest) was responsible for the first one, picking up a sacrifice fly to put the Mohawks up 1-0. Then, an RBI single from right fielder Zach Eldred (Brockport) doubled the lead. The hit scored centerfielder Jalen DeBose (Florida Atlantic) who continued his hot streak in this game, picking up two hits.
The 2-0 Mohawks lead would hold right there for a while, as zeros were hung across the board through the seventh. In the eighth, after reaching on an error, Utica EH Kyuss Gargett (Kentucky) came home on an error to swing the momentum and cut the Amsterdam lead in half. Then in the ninth, Pablo Santos (Rutgers) would come up huge for Utica, as with two outs, his RBI single to score Norris McClure (Spring Hill) dramatically tied up the East Final at two apiece. After the Amsterdam offense was held in the bottom of the ninth, the game would go to extras.
After throwing a runner out stealing in the top of the tenth, the Mohawks set themselves up for a potential walk-off in the bottom of the inning, and Marek Houston did his part, hitting a single, stealing a base, and then moving to third on a sacrifice. Playing small ball, Amsterdam then tested out a play at the plate, and a dropped tag allowed Houston to score the game-winning run and send Amsterdam back to the PGCBL Championship, their fifth-straight appearance.
Brandon Peterson (NJIT) pitched very well for Amsterdam, pitching seven innings, allowing no runs and striking out seven. However it was Ryan Taffe (Fairfield) who got the win, coming up big with a scoreless tenth inning to allow the Mohawks to win 3-2.
The PGCBL Championship will begin on Wednesday, August 2. It will be a best of three series with all games played at 6:35. Games one and *three (*if necessary) will be played in Amsterdam, while game two will be played in Elmira.