By Brendan Reilly
Box Score
The Amsterdam Mohawks defeated the Mohawk Valley Diamond Dawgs by a score of 20-5. The Mohawks batted around in two different innings, and scored the most runs in any game this year in the PGCBL. The win was their thirty-sixth of the season, another PGCBL record.
Josh Gardiner (Radford) clawed his way closer to Mohawk history with another monster night. “Gardy” went 4-for-5 with six RBI, two runs scored, a double, and his first homerun of the year. With four hits on the night, he moved within striking distance of several Mohawks records. He now has 105 career hits in two seasons, and needs two hits to tie Vince Riggi’s (’04-‘06) career record of 107. He also needs two hits to tie Zach Shank’s (’12) single season record of 58 hits. His double in the fifth inning was his twenty-fifth, which is one behind Riggi’s record of 26. Gardiner has been absolutely incredible this season for the Mohawks.
Trey Stover (Hartford) was the lone bright spot for the Diamond Dawgs. Stover went 1-for-3 with two runs scored, and a three-run homerun.
The Mohawks scored six runs in both the fifth inning, and the eighth inning. The fifth inning scoring started with a Marcus Carson (Kentucky) fielder’s choice that brought in a run on a controversial call. With the bases loaded and the infield in, Carson grounded the ball towards second baseman Joe Carcone (St. Rose). Carcone threw home for the forceout, but the umpire ruled that catcher Eric Strano (Rider) pulled his foot off home plate before he caught the ball, allowing the run to score. Mohawk Valley’s Head Coach Blake Nation came out to argue, and was promptly thrown out of the game. That call opened the floodgates. After JaVon Shelby (Kentucky) popped out, Josh Gardiner unloaded the bases with a three-RBI double. John Razzino (Franklin Pierce) backed Gardiner up with a two-run homerun to make it 13-5.
The Mohawks struck for six more in the eighth inning. Joey Aiola (Marist), Alex DeBellis (Lynn), and Brendan Tracy (Fairfield) all singled to start the inning. Tracy’s single scored Aiola. Jonathon Pryor (Wake Forest) followed Tracy’s single with an RBI double, and then Marcus Carson followed that with a two-RBI triple. Josh Gardiner capped the inning off with a two-run homerun.
Mohawk Valley’s first two runs came in the top of the third inning on a throwing error by Alex DeBellis, and an RBI-groundout by Zach Collett (New Haven). Their other three runs came on a three-run homerun by Trey Stover in the top of the fifth inning.
The Mohawks did not use a starting pitcher. Amsterdam used four pitchers from their bullpen to earn the win. Joe Randall (Fairfield) started the game, and Andy Ward (Florida State) relieved him, and earned the win. Daniel Castro (Albany) and Zach Breen (Barton) also pitched for Amsterdam.
Michael DeCarlo (Herkimer C.C.) started the game for the Diamond Dawgs and took the loss. He allowed fifteen hits and thirteen runs over 4.2 innings, and only struckout two batters.
Mohawk Valley finishes their season with a double header against the Elmira Pioneers in Elmira. Amsterdam travels to Albany for the last game of the regular season.
More News Articles