By Sam Federman

Box Score

Amsterdam, N.Y. - Zach Eldred (SUNY Brockport) had been away from the Mohawks for the last week. When he checked his phone, seeing the back-to-back losses of the last two games, it angered him, and he had to do something about it.

So when the 2023 All-PGCBL First Teamer stepped up to the plate in the bottom of the first inning with the bases loaded and two outs, he knew he had to deliver. Amsterdam had already taken a 1-0 lead, but that’s far from comfortable against the second-place Stallions, who had just defeated the Mohawks the night before.

Eldred smacked a pitch from Leam Powell the other way into left center field, just out of the reach of a leaping Justin Ford, and rolling all the way to the fence. The bases cleared and the crowd erupted as the designated hitter galloped into second base, the game now burst open in the opening frame.

The extra cushion wasn’t especially necessary for Mohawks starting pitcher Justin Shadek (Rutgers). On his sixth consecutive Tuesday toeing the slab, the hulking right-hander made his first start, going three hitless innings with three strikeouts.

After Shadek froze Saugerties backstop Nate Manley with one out in the first, new Stony Brook commit Luke Szepek fired a bullet down to second base to nab a stealing Mario Trivella, setting the tone for the rest of the evening.

Following nine errors in the previous two games, the Mohawk defense shined on Tuesday night. The team recorded zero errors and made multiple stellar defensive plays, headlined by a sliding catch on the warning track by center fielder Javar Williams (Wake Forest) robbing Justin Ford of a leadoff extra base hit in the second inning.

Amsterdam continued to pour it on in the second inning, with six more runs crossing the plate. The onslought included a frozen rope double from Cade Ladehoff (Michigan) and Liam Willson (Wake Forest) crushed an RBI double to left field.

Once Shadek’s day was done, with the Mohawks still holding a 10-0 lead, Parker Aikens (Rhode Island) entered the game. For the first time all season, Aikens pitched three full innings, and while he gave up a two-run home run to Ford in his final frame, he left the game with Amsterdam ahead 11-2.

The run parade continued in the bottom of the sixth, where Jake Sparks (Marshall) drove in Willson with an RBI double off of Jake Michalak, and six more runs came around after Jace Vanvalkenburg replaced him on the mound.

The 18-2 margin is the largest Amsterdam has ever had against Saugerties, and it came at a critical inflection point for the season.

The Mohawks take on the Albany Baseball Club in a doubleheader starting at 12:30 p.m. on Wednesday with a chance for franchise win number 1000.

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