By Josh McMullen – Mohawk Valley Diamond Dawgs
LITTLE FALLS, NY – Blood pressures can stay down in Little Falls, because the Mohawk Valley Diamond Dawgs proved in their last two games of the season that they can win the blowouts as well as the close ones.
Ryan Frontera racked up six RBIs, going four-for-six in Mohawk Valley’s 12-3 win over the Boonville Lumberjacks on Saturday night to finish off the 2024 regular season.
Mohawk Valley got on the board first, just four batters into their first at-bats. Frontera (Red Bank, NJ/Seton Hall) scored Brody Rasmussen (Meridian, ID/Maine) on a hit-and-run play that squirted out into left field. TJ Schmalzle (Hawley, PA/Fairfield) and Frontera would combine for four of Mohawk Valley’s next five runs in the fourth and fifth innings. Both of Frontera’s hits – a single and a double – brought home runs, while Schmalzle’s single in the third brought in two.
Boonville clawed back a run in the sixth with an RBI single by Hugo Kohnhorst (Jackson Heights, NY/Mineral Area). Walddy Rodriguez (New York City, NY/NJIT) brought home another two on a 2-RBI double, but a close play at the plate kept their run total at three.
Tyler Hodella (Miller Place, NY/Bridgeport) got his first RBIs in the season in the last game, smacking a ball that got lost in left field and scored Levi McAllister (Concord, NH/SUNY Albany) and Mason Snell (St. Johnsville, NY/Herkimer).
McAllister got his own RBI in the bottom of the eighth, ripping a ball to left field to score Schmalzle. Frontera would pick up another two RBIs, scoring Hodella and McAllister to extend the lead to nine.
That would be all closer Luke Horton (Sayre, PA/St. John Fisher) would need, setting the Lumberjacks down in order in the ninth to finish out the regular season in style.
Dylan Bedder (New Providence, NJ/UMass-Lowell) got the win for Mohawk Valley (25-15-3), who won five straight to finish out the 2024 campaign. Micah Garrett (Bronx, NY/Mineral Area) was credited with the loss for Boonville (10-27), who finish out their season losing four straight.
Mohawk Valley’s season will continue in the playoffs on Monday. They will host the Oneonta Outlaws at Veteran’s Memorial Park in their first-round matchup.
