By Jon Sargalis

Box Score     Photos     Photos Brady

You can’t count this team out. After trailing 8-1, the Amsterdam Mohawks rallied late scoring 4 in the seventh and 3 in the ninth, but ultimately fell short as the Mohawk Valley DiamondDawgs came away with the 9-8 win.

After a 44 minute rain delay, Logan Forsythe took the mound for the Mohawks, but he was immediately roughed up by the DiamondDawgs for 3 runs in the first inning. Diego Tavarez walked on 4 pitches to start the game. Christian Tufano followed with a single. Forsythe bounced back to strikeout the red hot Brody Rasmussen, but then gave up a 2-run single to Ryan Frontera. After a walk to Justin Hurd, Luke Nomura singled to load the bases. With the bases loaded Forsythe plunked Bryce Philips to force in another run and forced Forsythe out of the game. Jesse Kuzmich took over and with the bases loaded, got Max McGlone to ground into an inning ending double play to stop the bleeding at 3.

In the top of the second Ethan Pues led off with a triple, but with one out Cristino Tufano hit a line drive to third basemen Drake Drigorno who made a diving catch and then rolled over and slapped his glove on the bag for the inning ending double play.

Mohawk Valley got on the board again in the fourth as Bryce Phelps led off the inning with a double off Justus Agosto who was in for his second inning of work and later scored on a Diego Tavarez sac-fly to make it 4-0.

The Mohawks finally got on the board in the fourth inning as Sebastian Harden took the first pitch of the inning as smacked a triple to right center and later scored on a Cade Ladeoff single up the middle to cut the lead to 4-1. It was the first earned run DiamondDawgs starter Bryan Rios allowed all season. The Mohawks had a huge chance to capitalize, but with the bases loaded, Rios bared down and struck out Austin Fawley with the bases loaded to end the inning.

Ben Huckans took over in the sixth and gave up solo home runs to Max McGlone and Diego Tavarez as the Dawgs took a 6-1 lead.

Brian Yetter, who pitched for the Mohawks in 2021 made his return to the team and pitched the seventh. However, a walk and an error set the table for Max McGlone to single up the middle and past a diving Rob Rispoli as 2-runs scored for Mohawk Valley to take an 8-1 lead.

The DiamondDawgs went to the bullpen in the seventh as Bryan Rios was brilliant for the first 6 innings, allowing 1 run on 3 hits and 3 walks with 2 strikeouts as his zero ERA jumped up to 0.33.

Marcus Sanders took over and after Aiden Stewart reached on an error, Sanders struggled with his control and issued walks to Austin Fawley and Rob Rispoli to load the bases. Sanders rebounded to get the next 2 outs, but then a wild pitch allowed Stewart to score. That’s when the Mohawks’ bats sprung to life and Sebastian Harden delivered a 2-run single. After a Javar Williams single Tyler Figueroa drove in Harden with a single as it became an 8-5 game. Matt Bruno came in for the final out of the inning with the tying run up at the plate. After a double steal attempt, the ball sailed into left field, but the umpire called interference on himself saying his positioning obstructed the catcher’s throw and put the runners back at their original bases. Bruno then got the strikeout to end the inning.

In the top of the ninth, Luke Nomura reached on an error, stole second and advanced on wild pitches by Mason Veronezi to score a very important insurance run to make it 9-5.

In the bottom of the ninth, Rob Rispoli hit a popup that landed in shallow right-center for a double. Drake Digiorno then singled and advanced to second on the throw. Steven Spalitta walked to load the bases and Sebastian Harden came up as the tying run. He hit the ball to center for a sac-fly as Rispoli scored to make it 9-6. Javar Williams reached on a fielder’s choice and stole second to put 2 runners in scoring position as Tyler Figueroa represented the tying run once again. With 2 outs he would take the 1-2 pitch and just miss a game tying run as he hit a 2-run double off the top of the fence in left field to make it 9-8. Jackson Natili would walk to put the winning run on base, but Jimmy Dionne would flyout to right to end the game as Mohawk Valley would escape with the 9-8 win.

Bryan Rios earned the win improving to 2-0 and Matt Bruno got his second save of the season. Logan Forsythe took the loss falling to 1-1.

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