By Jon Sargalis
Box Score Photos Photos Brady Photos Jules
It was an instant classic Thursday night at Shuttleworth Park as the Mohawks held on to an 8-7 victory over the Saugerties Stallions one night after losing 8-0 in Saugerties.
Both teams traded blows in the second inning as Josh Blackmore homered for the Stallions and Evan Haeger homered for the Mohawks to tie the game at 1.
The Mohawks jumped in front in the third inning as Cade Ladehoff clubbed his 3rd home run of the season to give Amsterdam a 2-1 lead and in the fifth Rob Rispoli scored on a Javar Williams ground out to make it 3-1.
In the sixth, Saugerties came roaring back as Ethan Conrad mashed his league leading 5th home run of the season which tied the game at 3. Then the Stallions took the lead on 3 straight singles as Justin Ford drove in Matt McIntire to give Saugerties a 4-3 lead.
Amsterdam responded in the bottom of the sixth as Pete Daniel singled and advanced to third on a Zach Eldred double which set the table to for Daniel to score the game-tying run on a passed ball, knotting the game at 4.
The Mohawks got some valuable insurance runs in the bottom of the eighth and they would need everyone. Evan Haeger hit a 2-run double plating Pete Daniel and Zach Eldred and then Haeger would score on a Rob Rispoli single to make it 8-4 Mohawks.
The ninth belonged to Brendan Kline and he had to work to nail down the game. With 2 on and 2 out, the Stallions refused to go down without a fight as Fritz Genther hit a 2-run double making it 8-6. Ethan Conrad stepped up next as the tying run and delivered his 3rd hit and 3rd RBI of the game to make it 8-7. Then, like Kirk Gibson in the 1988 World Series, Andrew Amato, the reigning PGCBL MVP, who hit a league leading .415, who was just activated today, pinch-hit representing the go-ahead run with 2 outs.
Amato took the first pitch for a ball, then took a strike and swung at the next to go down 1-2 in the count. Then he didn’t take the bait on the next 2 pitches working the count full before popping out to third basemen Drake Digiorno as the Mohawks secured the dramatic 8-7 win and leapfrogged the Stallions to retake first place.
Logan Forsythe for the Mohawks and allowed 1 run on 1 hit over the first 3 innings with a walk and 3 strikeouts. Konner Keplinger got the win (1-0) going 2 scoreless innings allowing 2 hits and 1 walk with 1 strikeout as the Mohawks improved to 13-3.
Mason Compton started for the Stallions and allowed 2 runs on 5 hits with 1 walk and 1 strikeout, but it was Ben Keefe who took the loss allowing 4 runs in 2 innings as the Stallions fell to 13-3-1.
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