By Bob Rotruck

Box Score

Ed Charlton (New Jersey Tech) crushed two home-runs and Rocky McCord (Auburn) struck out 10 in six shutout innings as Amsterdam stayed unbeaten against rival Albany in a 12-6 victory at Shuttleworth Park on Monday night.

Charlton took over the league lead in homers with his third and fourth of the season. The Amsterdam lead-off hitter lifted a high-arcing shot over the chain-monster in the first inning and then launched a no-doubter in the sixth. The Mohawks were also led by Giuseppe Papaccio (Seton Hall) who had five RBI on two doubles and a single.

Amsterdam led 12-1 going into the ninth inning but a late two-out rally by the Dutch provided the more competitive final score.

Rocky McCord struck out a team season-high 10 batters in six brilliant innings of two-hit shutout ball as Amsterdam held on to a 2-0 lead for the early part of the game. The 39th round pick of the Minnesota Twins in the 2011 MLB draft almost had a no-hitter for his time on the mound. Both hits he allowed were just missed by Amsterdam defensemen on their attempts.

McCord struck out four in a row at one point from the third through the fourth and he had at least one strikeout in each of his six innings while frequently burying many of the Dutch batsmen on three straight strikes. Six of his 10 punchouts came on 0-2 counts.

Ed Charlton led off the bottom of the first with his third long-ball of the year as part of a two-run opening inning. And Amsterdam would hang on to that 2-0 advantage until the sixth when the bats would come alive again.

Two-out doubles in the sixth by Tom Bernal (Kentucky) and Demarcus Henderson (Mississippi State) made it 3-0 and then Charlton socked his second shot of the night to up the advantage to 5-0. That was the end of the evening for Albany starter Steve Basile (Iona) who took the loss to fall to 0-2.

The Mohawks made it 7-0 with two more in the seventh off lefty reliever Jake Woodward (St. John's) as Albany committed four errors in the single inning. Papaccio blasted an RBI double to highlight the frame.

Amsterdam had shutout Albany over 33 consecutive innings in their previous four games and had not allowed a Dutchmen run since the first inning of the debut encounter on June 7 but finally the streak was ended with a run in the eighth off Amsterdam reliever Matt Gallup (Stony Brook). Morgan Phillips (Charleston) drove in the first run the Dutchmen had scored against Amsterdam in a long time to make the score 7-1.

Both teams would strangely score five runs in their final at-bat. Amsterdam's big rally came in the bottom of the eighth and was countered by a lengthening of the game in the top of the ninth by Albany.

The big drive in Amsterdam's eighth inning rally was a bases-loaded double down the left-field line for Papaccio that made the score 12-1 and gave the Mohawks infielder five runs driven in for the night. He now has 13 RBI on the season which is second on the team trailing only Nathan Gomez (Marshall) who has 14.

Chase Williamson (Auburn) recorded the first two outs of the ninth with back-to-back punchouts but struggled to get the finisher as the next seven Dutch would reach base to cut the deficit to 12-6. Zach Remillard (Lasalle Institute) knocked a two-run single to left to complete the rally before Williamson would retire Sam Few
(Samford) on strikes for the second time in the inning to finally finish matters.

The first-place Mohawks improved to 13-3 to maintain their three game lead over the Oneonta Outlaws in the standings of the Perfect Game Collegiate Baseball League.

The Albany Dutchmen fell to 8-8 and are in a three-way tie for fourth through sixth with Glens Falls and Mohawk Valley.

Amsterdam is now 4-0 against the Dutch this year and have scored 23 runs vs. Albany in the last two games against them including an 11-0 win last Wednesday at Bob Bellizzi Field and then the 12-6 win. All told this season, the Mohawks have outscored the Dutchmen 31-7 in their four encounters.

The game marks the one-third mark of the regular season for both teams. It was their 16th game played of 48 total on the regular season schedule.

The Mohawks hit the road Tuesday and Wednesday with games at Mohawk Valley and then against against Albany for the fifth time this season. Amsterdam has home games later this week on Thursday and Saturday.

Albany is at the second-place Oneonta Outlaws on Tuesday before returning home Wednesday to host the Mohawks.

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