by Josh McMullen – Mohawk Valley Diamond Dawgs
LITTLE FALLS, NY – The American Red Cross was on hand at Veteran’s Memorial Park on Saturday, giving out crash CPR courses to their fans and the Mohawk Valley Diamond Dawgs.
Whatever they were doing, they must have done to the Diamond Dawgs between games. It must have worked as well because Mohawk Valley bounced back from a 9-1 loss to rival Utica to earn the split in a 4-3 win in Game Two
Alfredo Delgado (Bronx, NY/Manhattan) got the scoring started in Game One, looping a ball into left-center field for an RBI single. That hit allowed Zach Brush (New York Mills, NY/LeMoyne) to score from second. Utica took the lead an inning and a half later on a 2-RBI single from Will King (New York, NY/Eastern Kentucky) into center field.
Utica extended the lead to four in the fifth, thanks to an RBI single by King and a two-run home run to center field by Dewey Roden (Sherrill, NY/LeMoyne. Carson Applegate (Columbus, NJ/Kentucky) extended the lead to five on an RBI single to center field, followed by another home run by Chris Fernandez (Boca Raton, FL/Felician).
That was all that Utica would need in Game One, as Brandon Peterson (Utica, NY/NJIT) and Bryce Brownlee (Hot Springs, AZ/West Point) kept the Diamond Dawgs off the basepaths the rest of the way to pick up the win for Peterson and the Blue Sox.
Doug Marose (Laytonsville, MD) picked up the loss for Mohawk Valley.
In game two, Edwin Tavarez (Garfield, NJ/Felician) got things going with a sacrifice fly to right. That hit would score Ryan Enos (Oriskany, NY/Eastern Tennessee). A sacrifice fly in the bottom of the inning by Delgado would tie up the score, sending Ethan Valdez (Tampa, FL/Springhill) home.
Roden would get back on the scorecard in Game Two, thanks to a single by Tavarez. He would come home on an RBI single to center field by Ryan Maka (Oak Forest, IL/Valparaiso).
Valdez, who had been getting walks all night, finally got his first official at-bat and it was a big one for the Diamond Dawgs. His bloop single into left field scored Richie Sica (Wyckoff, NJ/Rider). Pete Durocher (Emerson, NJ/Manhattan) would tie up the score two batters later, with a sacrifice fly that scored Jimmy Sullivan (East Hampton, CT/UMass Lowell). They’d finally take the lead on a passed ball, with Ty Sallie (Mount Tabor, NJ/NJIT) sliding into home with the go-ahead run.
That would be all Chris Palmer (East Islip, NY/St. Rose) and Ethan Patch (Whitehall, NY/Carson-Newman) would need, allowing only three Utica baserunners in the final three innings to earn the split. Palmer would pick up the win, while Patch got the save.
David Thurman (Southfield, MI/Wayne State) was saddled with the loss in Game Two.
After an off-day on Sunday, Mohawk Valley will be back on the road on Monday, when they play the Boonville Baseball Club. Utica will be back at it on Sunday, taking on the Watertown Rapids.
