The Mohawk Valley Diamond Dawgs scored nine runs in Game One of Friday night’s doubleheader with the Adirondack Trail Blazers, and the bats were hot, scattering 12 hits in a 9-1 victory.
During the fifteen-minute break between games, the Diamond Dawgs got cold, managing only two runs in Game Two, losing 4-2 to split the doubleheader with the Trail Blazers.
In Game One, Troy Scocca (Syosset, New York/Fairfield University) would get the Diamond Dawgs on the board in the bottom of the first, as he slapped a double that would bounce off the right-field wall. That hit would score Matt Pagano (Cranston, Rhode Island/Marist College) and Sam Machonis (Tampa, Florida/Florida Southern College).
Anthony Herrera (McKinney, Texas/University of Louisiana-Monroe) and Pagano would add to the Mohawk Valley lead in the second, as they would hit almost identical balls up the middle to score Colin Hawk (Beech Grove, Indiana/University of Indianapolis) and Brian Cox (North Kingston, Rhode Island/LeMoyne College), respectively. Herrera would score himself two batters later on a passed ball. Machonis would put the Diamond Dawgs even further ahead later on, with a looper into right field that would score Pagano.
Diamond Dawg starter Marc Iseneker (Sherrill, New York/St. John Fisher College) would find himself with the bases full of Trail Blazers in the third. Adirondack All-Star Chris Kwitzer (Cheektowaga, New York/University at Buffalo) would make Iseneker pay for that with a ground out that would score Kyle Walker (Piscataway, New Jersey/Rutgers University) and put the Trail Blazers on the board.
Matthew Johnson (Ankeny, Iowa/South Dakota State University) would continue the Diamond Dawgs’ reign of terror in Game One, as he would park a ball over the right field fence, scoring himself, Pagano and Chris Rave (Middletown, New York/Herkimer CC). That would get Trail Blazer starter Tommy Eng (Troy, Michigan/Adrian College) pulled for Nick Harper (Chevy Chase, Maryland/College of the Holy Cross).
Those nine runs would be all Diamond Dawg starter Iseneker and reliever Evan Kissinger (Baton Rouge, Louisiana/LSU-Eunice) would need, as they would only allow one hit apiece over the last four innings to shut the door on Game One.
Kissinger would get the win for the Diamond Dawgs, while Eng would get the loss for Adirondack.
Adirondack would get on the board first in Game Two. A double by Bryan Haberstroh (Columbia, Pennsylvania/NJIT) in the first would score leadoff hitter Hunter Thomas (Elmira, New York/Jefferson CC). Haberstroh would score two batters later on a single by Kwitzer.
The Diamond Dawgs would get on the board in the third, when a single by Andrew Turner (King of Prussia, Pennsylvania/Long Island University-Brooklyn) would score the speedy Herrera from second base. That would be all Mohawk Valley would get in the inning, however, as Johnson would hit into a first-to-second double play to end the third.
Neither team would score again until the bottom of the fifth, when Turner would score Herrera again on a looper to center field to tie the game at two. That was all that Adirondack starter Joe King (Woodbridge, Virginia/Youngstown State University) would give up, as he would be pulled after the run scored for Mike Flax (Potomac, Maryland/LaSalle University), the starting second baseman from Game One. Flax would get out of a second-and-third jam by forcing Machonis into a ground out to end the inning.
Diamond Dawg starter Ryan O’Connor (Bloomfield, New Jersey/Fairfield University) would pitch himself into a bases loaded jam in the sixth before being pulled for Zachary Vennaro (New Hartford, New York/Monroe CC). Haberstroh would put the Trail Blazers (14-22) back in front soon after, scoring on a passed ball by Vennaro. Brendan Looby (Sewall, New Jersey/Chestnut Hill College) would score one batter later on a bases-loaded single by Walker.
That was all Flax would need, as he would only allow one hit over the last two innings to slam the door on Mohawk Valley in Game Two.
With the loss, the Diamond Dawgs (20-17) have still won five of their last seven.
The Trail Blazers head off to Victor High School on Saturday to face the RailRiders. The doubleheaders for Mohawk Valley in the last two weeks of the season continue as they head off to Murnane Field to face the streaking Utica Brewers.
