By Jonathan Kaiser
It was a slugfest to say the least at Rao Family Stadium tonight. Both teams combined for seven long balls in a game that ended 10-7 in favor of the Mohawks.
The Mohawks struck for 10 runs on 15 hits, 5 being homeruns, and 4 walks. The DiamondDawgs scored 7 runs on 12 hits, 2 homeruns, and 5 walks.
The scoring started for the Mohawks in the bottom of the 1st on a J.D Mundy (Radford) 2-run opposite field homerun, his second of the season. Mohawk Valley came right back in the top of the 2nd, however, scoring three of their own on a solo homerun from Ryan Hernandez (Houston) followed up by a flyball error hit by Jake Barbiere (Rider) plating two more.
There was ample scoring throughout the game. Mohawk Valley would score two more again in the top of the 3rd
to take a 5-2 lead. But Amsterdam came right back in the bottom of the 4th.
The bottom of the 4th was the biggest inning for the Mohawks, as they scored 5 runs on 5 hits, none bigger than the grand slam coming off the bat of Maxwell Costes (Maryland). The grand slam gave the Mohawks a 7-5 lead and knocked the wind out of the DiamondDawgs.
Costes was not done, however, connecting with one again in the bottom of the 6th to give the Mohawks an 8-5 lead. Costes ended his night 2-5 with 2 homeruns and 5 RBI’s raising his season’s average to .448.
To top off the incredible offensive performance put on by the Mohawks, Rook Ellington (Kentucky) and Paul Franzoni (NJIT) would go back-to-back in the bottom of the 7th, making it 10-5, and largely putting the game out of reach. Franzoni finished with a much needed 3-4 day including a pair of runs scored.
On the bump for the Mohawks, Travis Lane (Boston College) struggled just lasting 2.2 innings surrendering 5 runs (3 earned) on 5 hits and 3 walks. Fortunately, the Mohawk pitching staff kept the DiamondDawgs in check after that allowing just two more runs to score throughout the rest of the game.
For the DiamondDawgs, Jimmy Joyce (Hofstra) took the loss getting knocked around for 7 runs through 4 innings on 10 hits and 1 walk.
The Mohawks have now won four straight and hold a league best 10-2 record. They will look to
keep the momentum rolling on Wednesday against their East Division rival, the Glens Falls
Dragons.
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