By Cody Marshall

Box Score

The Amsterdam Mohawks used a five-run sixth inning to pull away and defeat the Glens Falls Dragons 12-4 on Thursday night at Shuttleworth Park.

Joe Genord (South Florida) and Tyler Ratliff (Marshall) both homered as part of two-hit nights. Genord finished 2-for-3, adding a single, two runs, and three RBIs. Ratliff went 2-for-4, adding a single, two runs, two stolen bases, and an RBI.

Amsterdam starter Griffin Roberts (Wake Forest) made his first appearance this season. He went four innings, allowed two hits, one run, walked three, and struck out six. While he struggled in the first two innings, Roberts responded by retiring seven of the last eight hitters he faced.

Glens Falls opened the scoring early in the first. Brian Granton (Colby CC) led off with a walk and advanced to second on a passed ball. Drew Greenwood (Bellarmine) reached on an infield single before Robbie Knightes (St. John’s) singled to left to plate Granton. Greenwood tried to score on Griffin Neuer’s (Bellarmine) fly out to center, but Brett Kinneman’s (NC State) throw was on line to nail Neuer at the plate and keep it 1-0.

Amsterdam answered in the bottom of the third. Kinneman was hit by a pitch with one out before Chris LaVorgna (Franklin Pierce) singled. Two batters later, with two outs, Nick Patten (Delaware) beat out an infield single, allowing Kinneman to hustle around from second to tie the game at one.

In the bottom of the fifth, Chris Givin (Xavier) led off with a single and hustled all the way to third on a wild pitch. After LaVorgna walked and stole second, Austin Botello (New Mexico State) grounded out to second, bringing Givin home to put the Mohawks up 2-1.

An inning later, the Mohawks offense erupted. Ratliff hammered a first-pitch curveball over the left field wall to make it 3-1. Back-to-back walks were issued to Andrew Rouse (Marist) and Genord before Tyler Ungerland (St. Rose) singled to load the bases. A passed ball allowed Rouse to score before Eric Downey (The College at Brockport) tripled to center field to bring in two. Downey would score on a passed ball to make it 7-1 Mohawks.

In the seventh, Nate Cardy (Gannon) took the first pitch he saw in a PGCBL game and launched it to left to put the Dragons within five. The Mohawks answered in the bottom half when Ratliff singled and stole both second and third. Genord singled to drive in Ratliff two batters later, putting the lead back up to six.

In the eighth, Knightes singled and scored one batter later on a double by Ryan Hooper (UC Davis). Neuer singled to bring in Hooper and the score was cut to 8-4. Again, the Mohawks answered. With one out, Tristen Carranza (New Mexico State) was hit by a pitch and moved to second on a Tyler Frank (Florida Atlantic) single. Rouse doubled to bring in both runners. Then, Genord launched his first home run of the season to right field to make it 12-4 Amsterdam.

On the mound, Mike Bonaiuto (Fairfield) picked up the win in relief of Roberts. The lefty went two innings and surrendered one hit. Franklin Miller (Dominican College) took the loss to drop to 1-1. Miller went five innings, gave up four hits, five runs, walked five, and struck out six.

The Dragons (2-10) will look to rebound on Friday night when they host the Albany Dutchmen at East Field at 7 p.m. Amsterdam (7-5) looks to avenge Wednesday night’s loss when they host the Mohawk Valley DiamondDawgs at Shuttleworth Park at 6:35 p.m.

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