By Ian Nicholas

Box Score

On Tuesday night from Shuttleworth Park, the Amsterdam Mohawks (8-1) suffered not just a 10-5 loss to the Mohawk Valley DiamondDawgs (4-5), but also their first loss of the summer. The defeat ends Amsterdam’s historic start to the season, as the Mohawks previously had never started a season better than 5-0. 

After compiling just three hits over their previous two games, the DiamondDawgs came alive against Mohawks starter Arlon Butts (Rend Lake Community College) in the top of the first, scoring six runs off six hits. Zach Brush (Le Moyne) got the party started with an RBI double before Garrett Musey (Goldey-Beacom) ripped one over the leftfield wall for a three-run home run. Noah Lucier (Fairfield) upped the lead to 6-0 shortly thereafter with an RBI double. 

Amsterdam wouldn’t respond until the bottom of the second when Hunter Thomas (Rend Lake Community College) hit a single which scored Mark Black (Wake Forest) to make the score 6-1. Mohawk Valley re-extended its advantage to 7-1 after Demetrius Johnson (Goldey-Beacom) batted in his college teammate Marshall Awtry (Goldey-Beacom) with an RBI double in the top of the third. That hit ended Butts’ night with 2.1 innings, six earned runs, eight hits, one strikeout, and one walk. Jack Slyvia (St. Lawrence) came out of the bullpen and cooled off the DiamondDawgs, tossing 3.2 scoreless innings while surrendering only one hit with a strikeout.

As Slyvia held Mohawk Valley at bay, Amsterdam scored two runs each in the bottom of the fourth and fifth to cut the deficit to 7-5. Connor Moore (Florida State) notched a two-RBI single in the fourth, then Black blasted a run-scoring single in the fifth. The Mohawks also scored a run off a passed ball from Awtry, as Frankie Marinelli (Manhattan) came home from third. DiamondDawgs starter Darin Horn (Coastal Carolina) went 4.2 innings, giving up all five runs off six hits with three strikeouts and five walks. 

Then, both bullpens got to work, keeping the game scoreless through the eight. Jed Boyle (Le Monye) pitched 2.1 scoreless innings with two hits, four strikeouts, and one walk. Then, Billy Hoffacker (RCSJ Gloucester) kept Amsterdam off the board in the eighth. For the Mohawks, Carson Cotugno (Wake Forest) replaced Slyvia and recorded six outs without surrendering a run in the seventh and eighth. 

But in the top of the ninth, Cotugno allowed Mohawk Valley’s Ernesto Polanco (Coastal Carolina) to provide the dagger as the shortstop hit a three-run home run. Hoffacker recorded the final three outs in the bottom of the ninth as the DiamondDawgs won by a score of 10-5 and in the process, broke a two-game losing skid. 

Mohawk Valley is back on the road tomorrow night against Albany at 6:35, while Amsterdam has the day off before traveling to Glens Falls on Thursday.