By Jon Sargalis
Box Score
The Amsterdam Mohawks staked themselves to 7 run lead in the first inning and looked to be cruising to victory. The Watertown Rapids, however, kept chipping away and made it a close game and the end before running out of time as the Mohawks prevailed 9-7.
Seven batters reached base in the first inning before Watertown recorded an out. Back-to-back walks and an error loaded the bases for Luke Longo (NJIT), who singled home Gage Miller (Bishop State) to make the score 1-0.
The run was Miller’s 78th of his Mohawks career and tied Josh Gardiner for the Mohawks record for runs scored.
Jaxson West (Alabama) and Dakota Duffalo (Utah) followed with RBI singles and Jalen DeBose (FAU) was hit by a pitch, forcing home a run to make it 4-0. Alex Irizarry (Maryland) reached on an error as 2 more runs scored and Carlos Martinez hit a sac-fly to make it 7-0.
The Rapids answered with 1 run in the bottom of the first as Nick Locurto (Virginia Tech) reached on a leadoff walk and scored on a Nick Mazzotta (Fairleigh Dickinson) single to make it 7-1.
In the second inning, Luke Longo grounded into a double play which allowed Bruer Webster (Utah) to score, making it 8-1 and in the third, Dakota Duffalo scored on a Bryce Hubbard sac-fly making it 9-1 as that was it for the Mohawks offense.
In the bottom of the third Watertown started to chip away. Nick Mazzotta drove in Jax Miller (Walsh) with a sac-fly making it 9-2.
In the fourth, Nick Locurto drove in Gaetan Grandelli (West Chester) with a single making it 9-3.
Joey Colucci (Maryland) took over on the mound in the fifth. Tyler Sausville (New Haven) went the first 4 innings, allowing 7 hits, 3 earned runs, 3 walks and recorded 4 strikeouts.
In the fifth, David McCann (Virginia Tech) hit a double and scored when Nick Mazzotta drove in his third run of the game with an RBI single making it 9-4.
In the sixth, Colin Hagerman (UW-Stout) scored on a wild pitch to make it 9-5.
Maximilian Ramirez (Niagara) took over on the mound in the seventh and was able to record 2 strikeouts with the bases loaded to hold Watertown off the scoreboard for the first time since the second inning.
In the eighth, Ramirez appeared to work out of danger again, but a miscommunication left-center allowed 2 more Watertown runs to score cutting the Mohawks lead to 9-7.
Ramirez came back out for the ninth and finished off the 9-out save with a quick 1-2-3 inning to secure the Mohawks 13th straight win.
Joey Coulicci was the winning pitcher, moving to 1-0 on the season as the Mohawks improved to 23-1. Cory Arthur (Anderson) took the loss falling to 1-4 on the season as the Rapids fall to 8-14.
The Mohawks are on the road Sunday for a doubleheader with the Saugerties Stallions starting at 4:25.
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