By Brandon Hillier
Mother nature has played a big role in the 2013 PGCBL season. Around the league, over 20 games have been postponed due to rain, and tonight's game in Amsterdam was no exception. Thunderstorms cut the Watertown Rams visit to Shuttleworth Park short in the bottom of the seventh inning with two outs. The Watertown Rams got on the bus victorious, winning 6-2 over the Amsterdam Mohawks.
Watertown's Chase Heslep (Lower Columbia) toed the rubber and threw three innings of no-hit baseball, allowing only one runner. Heslep ran into trouble in the fourth, but only surrendered two runs in his first start of the year. Logan Grant (Creighton) took the mound replacing Heslep in the fifth inning. After allowing two straight singles to start off the fifth, Grant retired the next seven Mohawks he faced.
Heslep lasted four innings allowing three hits and only two runs while striking out two and walking two. Grant threw two and two thirds innings giving up only two hits, and also striking out two.
Joe Moroney (Kansas) scored two runs and stole his 21st base of the year for Watertown. Riley Smith (Occidental) went 0-2, but reached base twice in the game and scored a run for the Rams.
Trey Wingenter (Auburn) labored through three innings for Amsterdam on the mound. He gave up three hits and three runs, but all of those runs were unearned. He finished with four strikeouts, taking the lead in the PGCBL with 42 on the year.
Jordan Ebert (Auburn) went 2-3 with a double and a run scored. Dylan Smith, the third Mohawk from Auburn went 1-3 with an RBI.
Watertown struck first in the first inning against Trey Wingenter. Joe Moroney lead off the game with a single to left field. He moved over to third when catcher Keith Skinner's (Fairfield) pickoff throw to first base sailed into right field. Wingenter struck out the next two Rams, but J.J. Wagner (Pacific) plated Moroney from third on a single up the middle giving Watertown a 1-0 lead.
Watertown added two more runs in the second inning. Riley Smith (Occidental) reached first on a fielding error by shortstop Ronnie Bernick (Canisius). A wild pitch moved Smith to second and he scored on a Jacob Boylan (Kansas) single. Boylan came around to score from second with a Trevor Marino (Virginia Commonwealth) hit to first base that first baseman John Nogowski (Florida State) nabbed but could not make a play on. Watertown increased their lead to 3-0.
Amsterdam went down 1-2-3 in the first two innings and put only one runner on in the third with a hit batter.
The Mohawks chipped at Watertown's lead in the fourth inning. Jordan Ebert lead off with a double down the left field line. Ebert moved to third with a Shane Zimmer (Canisius) single. Ebert came across home plate when John Sansone (Florida State) grounded out to third. Zimmer came around to score when Dylan Smith singled up the middle.
Zach Quayle (Ave Maria) relieved Wingenter in the fourth inning and shut down the Rams in two innings of work.
Alex Gagne came on in relief in the sixth inning and walked leadoff batter Joe Moroney. Moroney advanced to second with a Bobby Indeglia (Holy Cross) sacrifice bunt. Watertown's centerfielder, Moroney, then stole third. J.J. Wagner worked a walk after facing a two strike count from Quayle. Watertown's Colin Theroux (Nevada) hit a hard ground ball to third baseman Jordan Ebert. The ball took a tricky bounce on Ebert and went into left field, allowing Moroney to score from third.
Kevin Guthrie (Brown) came in for Quayle on a 1-0 count to Rams' shortstop Bryce Greager (Chandler-Gilbert CC). The first move Guthrie made in his relief work was an errant pickoff throw to first base that got by Nogowski. Wagner came around third from second base to score pushing Watertown's lead to 5-2. Watertown tacked on their final run when Colin Theroux came around to score on Greager's single up the middle that just went under Guthrie's glove.
Watertown held the lead 6-2 heading into the bottom of the seventh. Grant retired the first two batters of the inning when home plate umpire Bill Decker delayed the game with Ed Charlton up to bat. With lightning off in the distance, Amsterdam and Watertown retreated to their dugouts and then the rain started coming down. The game was called with Watertown taking the win in Amsterdam.
Watertown (22-15) is now 17-5 since starting the season 5-10 and heads back home to the Duffy Fairgrounds for a 7:05 game against the struggling Cooperstown Hawkeyes. The Rams have a firm grasp on the first spot in the PGCBL West Division with a 3.5 game lead over second-place Elmira
Amsterdam drops to 20-16 on the year, and falls to one-half game behind the Mohawk Valley DiamondDawgs for the final playoff spot in the East Division. The Mohawks travel to "The Bob" tomorrow for a double-header in Albany against the second-place Albany Dutchmen starting at 5:05.
R H E (LOB)
WR 120 003 0xx 6 8 0 (8)
AM 000 200 0xx 2 5 3 (5)
Records
Watertown - 22-15
Amsterdam - 20-16
Attendance: 812
Game Time: 2:29
Pitching
W - WR Heslep (2-0)
L - AM Wingenter (1-4)
S - WR Grant (2)
HR- None
Doubles - AM Ebert (3)
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