By Josh McMullen – Mohawk Valley Diamond Dawgs
LITTLE FALLS, NY – The 2025 season at Veterans Memorial Park began for the Mohawk Valley Diamond Dawgs with a loss to Utica.
At the end of July, the Blue Sox (21-16-1) made sure their last game in Little Falls this season didn’t end the same way. Down to their last out, Utica scored five runs in the top of the ninth to snipe a 7-6 victory on Thursday night.
The game began scoreless for four and a half innings, until back-to-back hits by Mohawk Valley’s (21-19-1) Ian Oehlschlaeger (Northeastern) and Nico Sorice (Queens College) broke the tie in the fifth. Sorice’s RBI double to the deepest part of left-center field scored Oehlschlaeger from second.
Matt Colella (LaFayette) tied up the game in the seventh, scoring his LaFayette classmate Ryan Ulisse on an RBI single. Colella would come home on a fielding error a couple of batters later.
The score knotted up again in the bottom of the inning, thanks to a lazy fly ball by Brandon Hauk (Herkimer) that dropped in the middle of three Utica players. That allowed Sorice to score easily from third base.
Jaden Ross (Flagler) broke the tie in the eighth with a lazy fly ball down the first base line and into right field. His RBI single scored John Calabrese (Bucknell) from second base. John Ramsey (Trinity) broke the game open with a bouncer past the Utica second baseman to score Ross and Tyler Jones (George Washington). Ramsey would come home as well in the inning, scoring on a slicing fly ball to right field by Sorice.
Waldy Rodriguez (NJIT) scored Berrisford on a seeing-eye single in the ninth, and Vincent Cowdrey (Macomb CC) scored two on a double. Xavier Smith (Millersville) brought home another two on an RBI double to give Utica the lead.
Ted Hohn would only allow one baserunner in the bottom of the ninth to take home the win for Utica. Aidan Colagrande (Stony Brook) was saddled with the loss.
The Diamond Dawgs finish up their 2025 regular season with a three-game road trip, beginning on Friday in Saugerties.