Saturday night’s PGCBL action was nothing short of dramatic, as it included a pair of massive upsets in the East Division, a rain-shortened contest in the West, a doubleheader sweep, and a tie!
Game 1: Albany Dutchmen 4, Oneonta Outlaws 0… Game 2: Albany Dutchmen 12, Oneonta Outlaws 1
Albany traveled southwest down I-88 Saturday and made the trip back to Albany with two more wins then they left with, as the Dutchmen (14-17) swept the Outlaws (11-22) to sweep the season series.
Albany would get one run in the top of third of game one off a sacrifice fly from Brody Keneston (Le Moyne). That was all Dutchmen starter CJ Kuentzel (Iona) needed, as the lefty threw six shutout with just two hits and two walks with his four strikeouts.
The Dutchmen would take advantage of three Oneonta errors in the top of the seventh to tack on three insurance runs, and Nick Kolze (Heartland CC) finished off the Outlaws in the home half to secure the game one victory.
With Albany serving as the home team in game two, Austin Francis (NJIT) would kick off the scoring in the bottom of the second, scoring on a passed ball.
A bases-loaded walk to JT Vance (Mississippi College), sacrifice flies for Francis and Anderson Moreno (SNHU), and a wild pitch would allow Albany to tack on four runs in the third. Albany would add on four more in the fourth, as Vance would clear the bases on a bases-loaded double and score later in the inning on a passed ball, making it 9-0.
After Oneonta got a run back in the top of the fifth, an RBI double from Moreno, a passed ball, and an RBI groundout from Josh Foglia (St. Rose) added three more for the Dutchmen, providing the final score of 12-1.
Greg Shaw III (Manhattan) turned in a solid start of his own in game two, going four scoreless innings with four strikeouts en route to picking up his first win of the summer. Jackson Smith (Kankakee CC) and Parker Lendrum (SNHU) would combine to strike out four in three innings out of the Dutchmen bullpen.
Vance would lead the Dutchmen offense, finishing his evening 2-for-6 with five runs batted in, two runs, a double, and a sacrifice fly. Moreno would go 2-for-4 with two runs batted in, two runs, a double, a walk, a hit by pitch, a stolen base, and a sacrifice fly, and Francis would register a 1-for-4 line with three runs, three walks, a run batted in, two stolen bases and a sacrifice fly.
Jamestown Tarp Skunks 8, Niagara Power 2
A 1-1 ballgame through five, Jamestown (18-10-1) scored six in the sixth to give them the victory over the visiting Power (17-12-1) in the seven inning rain-shortened contest.
Drew Garth (Washington & Jefferson) would score on a fielder’s choice in the bottom of the second to give Jamestown a 1-0 lead before Niagara tied things up in the top of the fifth off Andrew Stillinger’s (NCCC) RBI single.
Jamestown would load the bases to begin their big bottom of the sixth, and RBI walks from Aidan Wallace (Tampa) and Ryan Mittleman (Tampa) would make it 3-1. A wild pitch would then allow Colin Houck (East Stroudsburg) to score, and back-to-back walks would reload the bases and allow Wallace to cross home safely to push it to 5-1. Tommy Googins (Princeton) would follow with a two-RBI single, and suddenly the Jamestown lead was six.
Andrew Fairbrother (Tiffin) led off the seventh with his first home run of the summer to cut the Niagara deficit to five, but a pair of wild pitches after a walk and an error would allow Houck to score again and make it 8-2. The game would be called after the seventh as rain fell at Diethrick Park and an unpromising weather forecast did not show much hope for the game to resume.
Googins would lead the way atop the Jamestown lineup, going 2-for-2 with two runs batted in, two walks, and two stolen bases. All eight of Jamestown’s runs came from the 3-9 spots in their batting order, with Houck being the only baserunner to score twice.
Boonville Lumberjacks 9, Mohawk Valley DiamondDawgs 5
A back-and-forth contest at the Robert Smith Sports Complex in Boonville resulted in a large win for the Lumberjacks (11-21) over the visiting DiamondDawgs (19-12).
Mohawk Valley would get things started in their opening at-bats, as four batters in Sebastian Mueller (Quinnipiac) would double in Owen Pincince (New Haven).
Boonville would put up an even quicker response however, as leadoff man Jake Hatch (Emerson) would hit his first home run of the summer to tie the game at one in the bottom of the first. Marcus Smith (McLennan CC) would single with the bases loaded later in the inning, bringing in Matthew Layton (Spartanburg Methodist College) for the first lead change of the night.
The Lumberjacks would add two in the bottom of the second off a trio of Mohawk Valley errors to extend the lead to 4-1, but the DiamondDawgs would respond in their next at-bats.
Brady Shannon (UCF) would lead off the inning taking a hit by pitch, and after stealing second, would come around to score on a pair of bad throws that gave him the two free bases. After Mitch Balint (Carson-Newman) was awarded first on catcher’s interference later in the inning, Mueller’s third home run of the summer would tie the game at 4.
Mohawk Valley would regain the lead in the top of the fourth, as Justin Hackett (Bryant) would single, steal second, and then get to third and cross home on a pair of wild pitches.
Boonville again would respond fairly quickly, scoring twice in the bottom of the fifth to take back the lead for good. With runners on second and third, RBI singles from Joshua Lopez (Thomas Jefferson University) and Smith would make it 6-5 Lumberjacks.
The DiamondDawgs would go six up, six down in the sixth and seventh, and Boonville would use that opportunity to shut the door on their visitors. Santiago Jimenez (Prince George CC) would pick up a two-RBI double before scoring on a delayed double steal from third later in the inning to provide the final of 9-5.
Hatch would go 4-for-5 with two runs, a run batted in, a double, and a home run. Jimenez would finish 2-for-3 with two runs, two RBIs, two doubles, a hit by pitch, and a stolen base, while Smith would go 3-for-4 with two runs batted in and a stolen base in the victory. Mueller would finish his night 3-for-4 with three runs batted in, a run, a double, and a home run for Mohawk Valley.
Watertown Rapids 6, Amsterdam Mohawks 4
In the biggest upset of the season, the Watertown Rapids (10-22) made the trip to the Capital Region and knocked off the first place powerhouse Amsterdam Mohawks (29-3-1) at Shuttleworth Park Saturday night.
Watertown wasted no time jumping on the Mohawks, as a bases clearing double from Quinten Perilli (Elizabethtown College) and RBI single from Gaetan Grandelli (West Chester University) gave the Rapids a 4-0 lead before the Mohawks even had the chance to bat.
Amsterdam would leave one man on base in innings one through five, with the exception of inning number two, before breaking through in the sixth. Alex Irizarry (Maryland) would score on a Cam Gurney (Utah) groundout to cut the Mohawks deficit to three.
The Rapids would immediately respond however, as an RBI groundout from Mike Norton (Wheeling University) and RBI single from Colin Hageman (UW-Stout) would push the lead back up to five.
In typical Amsterdam fashion, this game would be far from over until the final out was recorded.
In the bottom of the ninth, a one-out, pinch hit, two-RBI single from Eddie Yamin (Dayton) made it 6-3. A walk to Mason Swinney (Alabama) would bring the tying run to the plate, and after a passed ball on ball four moved Yamin to third, an RBI groundout from Marek Houston (Wake Forest) made it 6-4. Maximus Martin (Rutgers) would then draw a walk and steal second to put the tying run in scoring position, but Sean Decker-Jacoby (Brandeis College) would get reigning PGCBL Player of the Year Gage Miller (Alabama) to ground into a fielder’s choice to end the ballgame.
Austin McClure (Mayville State) would go five innings in the start for Watertown, picking up his first win after allowing just three hits, one run (not earned), and three walks, with one strikeout. Perilli would finish 1-for-3 with three runs batted in, two runs, a walk, and a double, while Grandelli would go 2-for-4 with an RBI.
Saugerties Stallions 8, Glens Falls Dragons 4
Eight runs in the first four innings would be all the Saugerties Stallions (16-13-1) would need to defeat the visiting Glens Falls Dragons (11-18) at Cantine Field Saturday.
Another game with early action in the PGCBL Saturday night, this ballgame would be tied up at two after the first inning. A fielder’s choice off the bat of Ryan Grace and an RBI single from Nick Marola gave the visitors the lead quickly, but an RBI single from Corey Dowdell and an RBI double from Evan Wainman tied it up just as fast.
The two sides would trade the next two runs, as Joshua Blackmore’s RBI double would give Saugerties their first lead in the bottom of the second, but a sacrifice fly from Grace in the top of the third knotted the game back up at three.
Saugerties would put up the next five runs however, as in the bottom of the third, Dowdell would double in Aaron Stelogeannis before scoring later in the inning from third on a passed ball. In the bottom of the fourth, Andrew Amato’s league-leading ninth home run of the summer- and seventh just this month- gave Saugerties the 8-3 lead.
Glens Falls would get one back in the top of the sixth, but ultimately the six left on base after Amato’s three-run home run would cost the Dragons at any more of a comeback bid.
Amato would go 2-for-3 with three runs batted in off his home run, two runs, and a stolen base. Dowdell would register a 2-for-4 line with two runs, two more brought in, and a double, while Blackmore finished 2-for-3 with a run and an RBI, and a double of his own. Zander Teator paced the Dragons from the leadoff spot, going 3-for-5 with a run, a double, and a stolen base.
After Saugerties got three innings from starter Marko Gibbons (Marist), their bullpen would combine to throw six strong innings, allowing just two hits, one unearned run, and three walks with four strikeouts. Bryce Reimer (Bucknell) took the ball from Gibbons and was most effective, going three innings himself, allowing one hit, the unearned run, and one walk, en route to picking up his first decision, the victory, of the season.
Newark Pilots 7, Geneva Red Wings 7
A four hour marathon between the Pilots (7-20-1) and Red Wings (7-21-1) at McDonough Park in Geneva ended in a stalemate, as neither team could pull out the victory after 10 innings of baseball.
Five consecutive walks gave Geneva 2-0 lead in the bottom of the second before Newark tied the ballgame in the top of the fourth off RBI singles from Gage Boatman (East Central) and Dom Camera (Hofstra). Geneva picked up two more in the bottom half of the inning however, as a two-RBI double from Dillon Can (NJIT) gave the Red Wings a 4-2 lead.
One run aside in the sixth made it a 5-3 ballgame before Newark got four in the seventh. Nick Payne (Centenary University) would kick off the scoring in the seventh with an RBI single, scoring Camera, before a fielder’s choice off the bat of Paulie Goodness (Finger Lakes CC) allowed Briggs Loveland (Emerson College) to score and tie the game. Payne would score on the RBI groundout from Tatsunori Negishi (Middle Tennessee State) to give the visitors the lead, and Goodness would score on a wild pitch to make that lead two.
Wyatt Patchett’s (Le Moyne) RBI single in the bottom of the seventh made it 7-6, and after Brennan Staubley (Franklin Pierce) reached on an error with the Red Wings down to their final out in the bottom of the ninth, a single off the bat of Tyler Cerame (Finger Lakes CC) paired with a Newark error allowed Staubley to score all the way from first and Cerame to get to third. After walking Brandon Biggane (Bates College) put runners on the corners, Brantley Griggs (Cayuga CC) would strikeout Ethan Fulton (St. John Fisher) to send the game to the extra inning.
In the top of the tenth, Newark’s automatic baserunner would be erased, caught stealing for the first out. Goodness would single, steal second, and move to third on a Negishi groundout, but would be stranded there.
Geneva would not be able to generate much more, as a pair of strikeouts and fly out would leave the winning run on second.
Boatman would lead the offense for Newark, going 2-for-4 with two runs batted in, a run, and two stolen bases. Camera and Payne would each go 1-for-3 with a run and run batted in apiece for the Pilots. For Geneva, leadoff hitter Brandon Gelpi (Baldwin Wallace) went 2-for-3 with a run, run batted in, and three walks. Can finished 2-for-5 with two RBIs, a double, and a walk.