By Sam Federman

Box Score     Photos     Photos Jules

With the pitching staff’s back to the wall due to players leaving, Keith Griffin inserted Zach Hernandez (Belmont) into the starting rotation for the first time this season. The righty was up to the challenge.

After retiring the side in the first, Hernandez struck out the side in the second, but he was matched every step of the way in the first three innings by Albany’s starter John Gerfen.

With the game still scoreless in the top of the fourth, a Hernandez pitch got past Jackson Natili (Cincinnati), and Donovan Rhoden attempted to score from third. However, the ball bounced directly back to Natili from the backstop, and he got Rhoden in a rundown, where he was eventually tagged out by Hernandez.

A few pitches later, Hernandez got Luke Filippi swinging for the third out, sending the Mohawk bats to the plate for the bottom.

It took until this point, but Amsterdam finally got to Gerfen when Natili slammed a double into the gap in right-center field. Two batters later, Zach Eldred (Brockport) hit a sacrifice fly into left, and Natili scored from third.

Drake Digiorno (Utah) made the third out on the basepaths, but the rundown between first and second happened directly after an RBI single that scored Cade Ladehoff (Michigan), doubling the lead heading to the top of the fifth.

With Gerfen out of the ballgame in the bottom of the fifth, Aiden Stewart (Delaware) took the first pitch from Nick Pappas and deposited it over the right-field fence. Ladehoff answered the bell in the bottom of the sixth with a leadoff shot of his own, and Amsterdam held a 4-0 lead heading into the final three innings.

Manny Santos (Rhode Island) worked around two baserunners in the top of the seventh for his third clean inning, a very important long relief performance for a Mohawk team reeling for pitchers.

Mason Veronezi (Springfield) and Gage Haley (Mississippi State) finished the job with scoreless frames in the eighth and ninth, and the Mohawks picked up win number five in a row, and 26 on the season.

Amsterdam travels to Oneonta on Saturday night for their 32nd game of the campaign.

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