By Josh McMullen – Mohawk Valley Diamond Dawgs
LITTLE FALLS, NY – The Mohawk Valley Diamond Dawgs were certainly channeling the recently retired Ozzy Osbourne in their doubleheader against the Glens Falls Dragons on Wednesday night.
Mama, the Dawgs were coming home – early and often.
The Diamond Dawgs scored nine runs in the first inning of Game One and never looked back from there, scoring a total of 24 runs in a sweep of Glens Falls.
In Game One, Joe Karpierz (Xavier) jolted a ball to right field just five batters in to get the scoring started for Glens Falls, scoring Tyree Jackson (Houston Christian). The Diamond Dawgs repeated the feat in just two batters in the bottom of the inning with a rapidly bouncing ball to center field by Tyler Jones (George Washington). That RBI single scored Ethan Pues (Warner), who doubled to start the inning.
John Ramsey would do Jones one better three batters later, poking a lazy fly ball to left field and scoring two RBIs – Jones and Joey Calabretti (Seton Hall). The very next batter – Jaden Ross (Flagler College), who made his return to Veterans Memorial Park on Thursday – scored Ramsey and JP Kuczik (Fairfield) on a hard-hit double that got all the way to the left field wall.
Nico Sorice (Queens College) also managed to get home in the inning on a throwing error.
In all, 15 batters would come up for Mohawk Valley in the first, scoring nine runs on eight hits.
Jackson clawed back two runs for the Dragons in the second, getting a ground-rule double to center field. The 2-RBI double scored Tate Van Alstyne (Southern New Hampshire) and Nick Galello (Hofstra).
Justin Hurd (SUNY Albany) scored Mohawk Valley’s tenth run of the game on a ground out in the second. Number 11 would come in the third, on a hard hit ball by Kuczik that scored Calabretti. Ross brought home Kuczik just a couple of batters later on a sacrifice fly to center field.
The lead ballooned to ten in the fourth on another sacrifice, this time by Jones to score Brandon Hauk (Herkimer).
Robert Melo (West Point) cut the lead to eight in the fifth on a 2-RBI double that scored Aidan Gallagher (Hofstra) and James Haughton (Rhode Island). Another run would score on a Nick Galello (Hofstra) single, scoring Melo.
Another run came for Mohawk Valley in the fifth on a sacrifice, this time by Sorice. The Dragons got one run in the seventh, but that was as close as they would get in Game One, as Ryan Callaghan (St. Thomas Aquinas) struck out Jackson to end the game.
Brandon Rusnack picked up the game one win, his third of the season.
In Game Two, the teams would not muster a run until the bottom of the third, when Kuczik came up with two of them on an RBI single, scoring Ross and Pues. Joe Karpierz cut the lead to one in the next half-inning on a sacrifice fly, scoring from third base.
That run would swing back in the Diamond Dawgs’ favor in the bottom of the fourth, as Ian Oehlschlaeger (RPI) came home after Ross was hit with the bases loaded.
Calabretti would double the Dawgs’ run total in the bottom of the sixth, slamming a ball over the right-center field wall to bring himself, Ross and Sean Stoney (Lincoln). Oehlschlaeger extended the lead to six on a sharply-hit ball to left field, scoring pinch-runner Kaden Hart (Virginia Tech). Ryan Strnad (Seton Hall) brought home Oehlschlaeger on an RBI double, then Stoney brought home another two runs.
That would be all the Diamond Dawgs would need, as Jake Beck (Trinity) set the Dragons (9-20) down in order in the seventh to earn the sweep.
Drew Harris picked up the win for Mohawk Valley (16-13-1), who now has won three in a row.
The Diamond Dawgs will be back in action on Thursday night when they host the Oneonta Outlaws.
Photos by Dave Warner
