By Sam Federman

Box Score     Photos     Photos Jules

AMSTERDAM, N.Y. - Clinging to a 5-4 lead heading into the bottom of the ninth, Utica Blue Sox manager Doug Delett decided to leave Ryan Carroll (Felician) in the game for his third inning of work.

He’d already thrown 45 pitches and allowed two runs, and Gavin Enright (Felician) had been throwing in the bullpen, ready to come in.

Mohawks leadoff hitter Michael O’Brien (Mississippi State) worked a seven-pitch walk, and Delett threw out the hook.

While many closers work best from a clean inning, Utica took the risk of waiting a batter before putting Enright in the game for the second straight night, and they paid the price.

He walked Drake Digiorno (Utah), putting the winning run on base with zero outs, and after a successful double steal, he was in scoring position with one out.

With his run no longer mattering (as the winning run was already on base), and his bat as hot as ever, Cade Ladehoff (NJIT) was not given the chance to be the hero on back-to-back nights, as Delett intentionally walked him.

However, by loading the bases, Utica's margin for error shrunk, and Enright couldn’t handle it. He walked in the tying run on four pitches that Liam Willson (Wake Forest) never as much as considered a swing.

Pete Daniel (Belmont) stepped up to the plate with victory on his mind, and head coach Keith Griffin’s voice ringing in his ear.

“The whole last inning, coach said ‘if you get a fastball, do some damage with it, and if he throws you a curveball spit on it,’” Daniel said after the game.

While he missed the first fastball he saw, Enright challenged him again, and Daniel, in his own words, “had to do something with it.”

And that something was a walk-off sacrifice fly to center field, scoring Digiorno from third, and notching Amsterdam’s third straight win, 6-5.

“I thought Pete played well,” Griffin said. “I was contemplating (a squeeze bunt in the 9th inning), but I decided to let him run into one, and he did, and it worked out well for us.”

Daniel also drove in a run in the eighth inning with a bloop single into left field and drew two walks in his first two plate appearances. Through nine games, his batting average sits at .417, ranking fifth in the PGCBL’s East Division.

While the Mohawk bats made a charge late in the game, Parker Aikens (Rhode Island) provided stability at the back end of the bullpen with two scoreless frames in the eighth and ninth. He struck out four of the eight batters that he faced, three of them fanning on his dangerous slider.

“He’s low three-quarters or even almost sidearm,” Griffin explained why batters have a difficult time picking up Aikens’ stuff. “He’s got the fastball that runs arm-side, and he’s got a slider that goes glove-side, so it’s kind of a hard look because you don’t see that release point very often.”

Amsterdam had to use one more pitcher than it had hoped in yesterday’s win, but Griffin was able to win tonight’s game using just three.

The Blue Sox grabbed their three-run lead in the seventh, as Damian Witty (University of Charleston) hit a two-out, two-run double to provide insurance off of Manny Santos (Rhode Island). But if it hadn’t been for a few poor defensive plays, including two errors in the seventh, the Mohawks may not have needed such a big rally.

Defense cut both ways, with five errors, but also three double plays that aided both Santos and Colin Kidd (NJIT) in getting out of jams.

In five innings of work, Kidd allowed six hits, gave a free pass, and a hit by pitch, but only surrendered two runs thanks in large part to the double plays turned behind him.

“It was fine, it was not outstanding,” Griffin said. “But it was good enough for us to win.”

The learning process continues, as the Mohawks are not close to their final form by any means.  In their coach’s words, they have “left a lot of chicken on the bone,” but it’s always better to learn lessons through victory rather than defeat.

Sitting at 7-2, Amsterdam plays on the road at Oneonta and Mohawk Valley before returning to Shuttleworth Park on Saturday to face the Outlaws once again.

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