By Jon Sargalis

Box Score

A five-run fourth inning propelled the Mohawks to their seventh straight win on Sunday as they defeated the Utica Blue Sox 8-3 at Donovan Stadium.

Amsterdam jumped out to a 2-0 lead with runs in each of the first 2 innings. Michael O’Brien (Mississippi State) drove in Javar Williams (Wake Forest) with a single in the first and Rob Rispoli (UConn) drove in Aiden Stewart (Delaware) with a single.

The Mohawks got to work in the fourth inning as Liam Willson (Wake Forest) drove in Michael O’Brien. Aiden Stewart then scored on a Rob Rispoli suicide squeeze. Javar Williams doubled to left as Willson scored and Jackson Natili (Rutgers) hit a 2-run single to drive in Williams and Evan Haeger (Alabama) making it 7-0.

It was business as usual for Mohawks starter Drew Nelson (Auburn). 3 shutout innings pitched, no hits, 4 walks and 4 strikeouts.

Manny Santos (Rhode Island) took over on the mound in the fourth and allowed 2 runs as Mike Benedetto (St. Rose) stole home and Omar Carreras (Tusculum) scored on a Trace Hartman (Charleston) single to cut the Mohawks lead to 7-2.

In the seventh the Mohawks extended the lead to 8-2 as Jimmy Dionne (Howard College) scored on an error.

Parker Aikens (Rhode Island) pitched a scoreless fifth inning for the Mohawks and Brenden Kline (Brown) took over from there as he got the 4-inning save. The only blemish on Kline came in the bottom of the ninth as the Blue Sox were down to their final strike of the game and Johnny Brucato (Mt. St. Vincent) hit an RBI double to right that scored Gabe Cavazzoni (Seton Hall) to make it 8-3, but Kline promptly got Todd Abraham (Binghamton) to ground out and end the game.

The Mohawks moved to 11-2 on the season as Drew Nelson improved to 2-0. The Blue Sox fell to 6-5-1 as Utica starter Giovanni Canales (Coppin St.) fell to 1-1 on the season.

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