By Cody Marshall

Box Score

The Amsterdam Mohawks knocked out 14 hits and took advantage of three Mohawk Valley errors Saturday night to coast to a 15-4 series opening win in the PGCBL East Division Championship Series.

Riley Mahan (Kentucky) finished 4-for-6 at the plate with three singles, a double, two runs scored, and an RBI. Justin Yurchak (Binghamton) went 1-for-4 and provided a three-run home run that paced the offense early. Hunter Tackett (Auburn) and Aidan McDermott (St. John’s) each recorded two hits.

Mohawk Valley was led by Chris Rave (Herkimer CC) who finished the night 2-for-4 with a single, a double, and two RBIs.

The Mohawks gave starter Zach Logue (Kentucky) run support early and never looked back. In the bottom of the first, Tackett singled with two outs to start the rally. After a Brendan Tracy (Fairfield) walk, Handsome Monica (Arizona) and Scott Manea (NC State) hit back-to-back singles to put the Tribe up 2-0. Macy Holdsworth (Indiana) followed with a two-RBI double that extended the lead to four.

In the bottom of the second, McDermott and Mahan led off with back-to-back singles off Mohawk Valley starter Adam Ashenfarb (Union). Yurchak then took a 2-0 pitch deep over the right field wall to put Amsterdam up 7-0.

The offense continued in the fourth when Mahan doubled with one out and scored on back-to-back walks issued to Tracy and Monica. The DiamondDawgs would get on the board in the fifth when Colin Hawk (Indianapolis) walked and advanced to second on an ensuing hit by pitch. Hawk scored when an errant pickoff throw went into center field.
The DiamondDawgs added another run in the sixth. Thomas Walraven (New Haven) singled to lead off the inning. After moving up on a walk to Ryan Stekl (Canisius), Walraven scored on Rave’s double to make it 8-2.

Amsterdam scored three runs in the sixth on three hits and two errors in the field to make it 11-2 before Troy Scocca (Fairfield) picked up an RBI double and scored on Rave’s single to cut the gap to seven. However, Amsterdam would use five consecutive walks and a Mahan single to tack on four more runs to provide the final tally.

Logue picked up his first postseason win after going six innings, in which he allowed two runs (one earned) on four hits, walked two, and struck out five. The loss went to Ashenfarb who went five innings and allowed eight runs on ten hits, walked four, and struck out five.

The Mohawks and DiamondDawgs will meet at Veterans Memorial Field in Little Falls for Game Two on Sunday night at 6:30 p.m. Brad Schaenzer (Kentucky) will toe the rubber for the Mohawks.

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