MOHAWK VALLEY DIAMONDAWGS 10, ALBANY DUTCHMEN 3

LITTLE FALLS, N.Y. — The Mohawk Valley DiamondDawgs’ biggest inning of the season helped ensure an elusive home victory as they spoiled the first visit by the Albany Dutchmen to Veterans Memorial Park with 10-3 win Thursday.

The DiamondDawgs scored six times in the eighth inning to lock down their first win on home soil in 14 days and just their second in seven tries on the season. A grand slam by Bryce Nugent capped a rally that started with two walks and a hit batter.

Jon Shepard relieved Wes Braun after Mohawk Valley loaded the bases with one out in the eighth inning. Steve Nickel and Dave Soltis each served his 1-0 pitch from the submarining right-hander into right field for a run-scoring single before Nugent deposited the ball beyond the fence in center for his first home run and the DiamondDawgs’ New York Collegiate Baseball League-high 10th of the season.

Albany led 2-0 in the early going with single runs in the first and fourth innings. Kyle Wong led off the game with a single, stole a base and scored on a one-out hit by Jarred Jimenez. The Dutchmen loaded the bases for the second time with one out in the fourth and scored again on an infield hit by Jimenez.

“You looked up at the scoreboard and they had eight hits and two runs and they hadn’t hit a ball hard yet,” DiamondDawgs manager Tim Lau said.

Mohawk Valley had been blanked through three innings by Colin Britton thanks, in part, to two pickoffs and a caught stealing. The DiamondDawgs were more cautious on the bases in the fourth inning and were rewarded with two runs to tie the score. Soltis drew a one-out walk and Nugent followed with a single. One out later, Alfredo Brito and Patrick Chaputian delivered back-to-back run-scoring base hits. Britton hit Dexter Kelley with a pitch to load the bases before retiring Chris Peters to end the inning.

Albany missed a chance to move back ahead in the fifth inning. Singles by Rob Deveney and Dylan Swift had runners at first and third with two outs. Mohawk Valley had Swift picked off when Devaney broke for home. First baseman Jonathan Ross threw home to Nugent whose tag ended the inning.

The DiamondDawgs loaded the bases again with three walks in the bottom of the fifth and an error on Brito’s two-out roller to the right side allowed Navarro Hall to score the go-ahead run.

Kelley led off the sixth inning with a home run off Wes Braun to put the DiamondDawgs up 4-2.

Albany made it a one-run game again in the top of the eighth when Kevin McCall came home on Swift’s double play grounder.

Chad Gallagher (1-1) allowed 11 hits through the first five innings but set the Dutchmen down in order in the sixth and seventh earned his first victory. Derrick Weber went two innings for the save in his DiamondDawgs debut.

Mohawk Valley was outhit 12-10 but made up for the disparity with seven walks and four hit batters.

Nugent, Ross and Kelley all had two hits for the DiamondDawgs. Kelley, who bunted for a hit his first time up, entered the game with one hit, a June 10 home run, in 20 at-bats on the season.

Jimenez had three hits and two runs batted in for Albany. Swift and Wong each had two hits.

The DiamondDawgs fell one run short of the season-high 11 they scored in a June 15 victory in Amsterdam. Thursday’s six-run eighth surpassed the five runs they scored in the sixth that day in shat had been their highest scoring inning of the season. The six runs also doubled Mohawk Valley’s combined total from losses Tuesday in Amsterdam and at home Wednesday against Watertown.

The DiamondDawgs travel to Watertown to spend their second straight Friday night at the Duffy Fairgrounds taking on the Wizards. They return home for games Saturday and Sunday at Veterans Memorial Park. Saturday night is Free Haircut Night with Beauty and the Beach Salon cutting boys hair on a first-come, first-shorn basis during Mohawk Valley’s game against the Glens Falls Golden Eagles. Sunday’s 5:05 p.m. game against Watertown features a miniature bat giveaway to the first 100 fans through the gate.

MOHAWK VALLEY DIAMONDDAWGS 10, ALBANY DUTCHMEN 3

Albany    100 100 010  —  3  12  1

Mohawk Valley    000 211 06x — 10  10  2

Colin Britton, Wes Braun (5), Jon Shepard (8) and Dylan Swift. Chad Gallagher, Derrick Weber (8) and Bryce Nugent. W — Gallagher 1-1. L — Britton 0-1. Sv — Weber (1). 2B — Mohawk Valley, Jonathan Ross. HR — Mohawk Valley, Dexter Kelley, Nugent. Records — Albany 4-11; Mohawk Valley 6-8. Attendance — 576.

AMSTERDAM MOHAWKS 12, SARATOGA PHILLIES 2

AMSTERDAM, N.Y. — Braden Kapteyn pitched six innings of scoreless one-hit ball for Amsterdam Thursday in the Mohawks’ 12-2 win over the Saratoga Phillies at Shuttleworth Park.

Kapteyn (3-1) struck out nine batters and walked one before turning a 9-0 lead over to the Amsterdam bullpen. Sean McKeown, Elliot Byers, and Brendan Chapin finished up with an inning each of relief work.

Dan Gamache, Ian Choy, Chad Salem, Cory Farris, Matt Colontonio, and Mel Rojas Jr. all had multiple hits for the Mohawks who had been shut out one night earlier by the Phillies. Farris singled, tripled and drove in a run.

Amsterdam is home again Friday for a game against the Albany Dutchmen.

Compiled From Evening Times Staff Reports