By Jonathan Kaiser

Box Score

It was a well fought game between the Beast of the East and the Best of the West. The Mohawks and the Utica Blue Sox squared up against each other giving us a preview of what could be come championship time.

The Mohawks get back in the win column with an 8-5 win. The game was uncharacteristic of most. The Mohawks fell behind early, and there were no homeruns between either team. The Mohawks managed to come back on a bunch of infield singles and defensive miscues as well as ride the dominating performance from David Harrison (NC State) in the late innings of the game. Harrison would come o in the seventh, throwing three innings in relief, and striking out five. Johnny Decker (Stony Brook) would provide most of the spark for the Mohawks’ offensive, going 3-3 with an RBI and raising his season’s average to .283.

The top of the third was the biggest inning for Utica, who scored three runs on four hits. Tyler Simon (Kennesaw State) would start the rally with a double. He would move to third on a passed ball and score on a single from Robbie Young (Appalachian State). Josh Hatcher (Mississippi State) would follow up the single with a double of his own, before Tim Mira (Eckerd) would single driving in both Young and Hatcher and making the game 4-0 BlueSox. The BlueSox would score another in the fifth, but the Mohawks came right back.

The Mohawks scored three in the bottom of the fourth. Both Landon Jordan (Mississippi State) and Michael Turconi (Wake Forest) would walk setting up first and second with one out for Rook Ellington (Kentucky). Ellington would reach base safely on a misplay from second basemen Luis DeLeon (Central Alabama CC) of Utica. Jordan would then score on a sac fly from D.J Poteet (Wake Forest). Paul Franzoni (NJIT) would follow that up with a double, scoring Turconi and moving Ellington up to third. Ellington would eventually score on a passed ball cutting the game to 5-4 BlueSox.

The Mohawks would then take the lead in the bottom of the sixth on some impressive baserunning work from Rook Ellington. Ellington would reach base on a single before stealing second, moving to third on a passed ball, and then sprinting home on that same play as the third basemen would mishandle the throw from the catcher. That tied the game. Rhe Mohawks would tack on one more after Paul Franzoni got hit by a pitch and scored on three consecutive singles from Dalton Reese (Tennessee), Mitch Hartigan (Florida Atlantic), and Johnny Decker.

The Mohawks would not look back from there, scoring two more in the seventh and eighth, eventually winning by a score of 8-5.

The Mohawks are back in action tonight against their East Division rivals, Glens Falls. First pitch at 6:35.

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