By Brandon Hillier
Box Score
Shuttleworth Park- The Newark Pilots (2-0) defeated the Amsterdam Mohawks (0-1) by a score of 3-2 on Opening Night. Newark’s right fielder Louis Silverio (Florida International University) hit the go-ahead home run in the top of the 6th inning off of Mohawk pitcher Andy Ward (Florida State University). The Mohawks rallied to score one run in the bottom of the ninth, but could not plate the tying run.
Louis Silverio’slong home run over Shuttleworth Park’s left-centerfield fence gave the Pilots the lead in the top of the sixth inning. It was the highlight of his 1-for-4 night. Michael Springer (Brigham Young University) pitched six solid innings. He let up two hits and struck out four.
The Mohawks had seven hits, but could not make the most of the ten runners they left on base. Jack Czeszewski (Illinois State University) led the way at the plate for the Mohawks. He had two singles and a double. He also walked in the ninth inning, when the Mohawks almost rallied to tie the score.
The bottom of the ninth inning proved to be dramatic for the Pilots and the Mohawks. It started with a lead off single by Joey Aiola (Marist), who advanced to second on a balk by Pilots’ pitcher BJ Nobles (Western Carolina). After a Jack Czeszewski walk and a Jonathon Pryor (Wake Forest) strikeout, Kevin Guthrie (Brown) battled through a 14-pitch at bat to draw a walk that loaded the bases. Joey Aiola scored on a passed ball to cut the lead to 3-2, but then Jake Salpietro(Fairfield) flied out to right to end the game.
Amsterdam travels to Dunn Field in Elmira at 7 p.m. on Friday to take on the Elmira Pioneers in a rematch of last season’s PGCBL Championship series.
Newark travels farther east on I-90 to battle the Albany Dutchmen at Bob Belizzi Field at 7:05 p.m.
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