By Jon Sargalis
Box Score
A night after establishing a longest winning streak in team history, the Amsterdam Mohawks looked to be cruising to their 17th straight victory on Thursday night. Up 6-1 in the sixth facing the Utica Blue Sox at Donovan Stadium, it appeared to be business as usual. Then the Blue Sox came back with a fury to tie the game in the seventh and walk it off in the ninth to defeat the Mohawks 7-6.
The Blue Sox were the team that took the lead first. After both teams loaded the bases in earlier innings, Blue Sox starter Adam Guazzo (Valparaiso) and Mohawks starter Maximilian Ramirez (Niagara) were able to work out of danger. In the bottom of the third, Ben Partrige (Rockland) led off the inning with an infield single to short. The Blue Sox played some small ball as Andre Demetral (NIU) bunted him over to second. Then with 2 outs and 2 strikes, Will Shannon (Hillsdale) hit an RBI single to right to open up the scoring and give Utica a 1-0 lead.
Amsterdam answered back in the fourth, after 2 quick outs, Marek Houston (Wake Forest) singled and a walk and hit batsmen loaded the bases for Maximus Martin (Rutgers) who delivered a 2-run single that scored Houston and Jaxson West (Alabama/Florida State) to put the Mohawks up 2-1.
Utica’s pitching staff issued 11 walks and the Mohawks took advantage in the fifth as Jaxson West picked up a free RBI on a bases loaded walk that forced home Luke Longo (NJIT) to make it 3-1 Mohawks.
In the sixth, Luke Longo blasted a 3-run home run, his fourth of the season to make it 6-1.
The Mohawks turned to the bullpen in the sixth after 5 strong innings from Maximilian Ramirez in his first start. He allowed just 1 run on 7 hits with 2 walks and 3 strikeouts. Carson Cotugno (Wake Forest) was first out and allowed an RBI single to Easton Brenner (Lafayette), scoring Taylor Kaufman (Hamilton), which cut the Mohawks lead to 6-2.
The bottom of the seventh started with a Todd Abraham (Binghamton) single and he scored on a Ben Partridge double. Partridge then scored on an Andre Demetral groundout to make it 6-4. Josh Davis (Clemson) came in to try and stop the bleeding with one on and one out, Will Shannon reached on and infield single and an error at short allowed Norris McClure (Spring Hill) to score. Then a wild pitch allowed Shannon to score and tied the game at 6.
Colin Maloney (Rhode Island) came in for the Mohawks and pitched a 1-2-3 eighth inning. He came back out for the ninth. After recording the first out, Norris McClure hit a double to left and then Will Shannon delivered the knockout blow with an RBI single up the middle to give the Blue Sox the 7-6 win.
Brandon Millan (Fort Lauderdale) got the win, improving to 1-0. He pitched the last 3.2 innings keeping the Mohawks off the board, allowing just 2 hits and 1 walk with 1 strikeout as the Blue Sox moved above .500 for the first time this season at 11-10.
Colin Maloney took the loss, falling to 1-1. The Mohawks record 16-game winning streak has been snapped as they fall to 25-2. On Friday the Mohawks will look to get back on track as they play the Boonville Lumberjacks on the road in a doubleheader starting at 5:00.
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