Tough Loss
The Albany Dutchmen came into Tuesday night's game against the Amsterdam Mohawks going 1-6 in their last seven games, but the resilience and determination of this team helped motivate and propel them to be able to compete with the best team in the league. Albany fell to the reigning PGCBL Champs 3-2 in extra innings, but they did not make it easy on the Mohawks.
Both teams came out with slow offenses to start, with no runs being scored in the first three innings. However, in the top of the fourth, back-to-back hits from Anthony Paskell (Rider) and Anderson Moreno (SNHU) gave the Dutch runners in scoring position, with Paskell later scoring on a bad throw. Tyler Kipp (Fairfield) was credited with the RBI, and would follow that up with his second later in the game.
In the seventh, Albany was still clinging to a 1-0 lead when Moreno was hit by a pitch out of the hand of Joey Colucci (Maryland). Joe Karpierz (Xavier) continued his recent tear by advancing Moreno to third on a double, and Kipp would pick up the RBI on a high chopper of a groundout. The Dutchmen entered the later stages of the game with the lead, with only 2.5 more innings to play.
In the bottom half of the seventh, Amsterdam continued to play hard, scoring their first run courtesy of Zach Eldred’s (SUNY Brockport) third home run of the year. That was then followed up in the eighth by Bruer Webster (Utah) on an RBI single. Just like that, the game was tied 2-2 entering the ninth.
With both teams unable to score in the ninth inning, the Dutchmen now had an opportunity to steal a game on the road in extra innings, however Bryce Hubbard (Mississippi St.) had other plans. In the bottom of the tenth, Hubbard hit an RBI single, scoring the winning run for Amsterdam, now extending their win streak to ten, and their overall record to 19-1. The Dutchmen fell to 6-12, tied for last place in the East Division, after a 4-3 start to the year.
Albany got a masterful start from Greg Shaw III (Manhattan), who turned in one of the best performances of the summer. The Cornwall-on-Hudson native threw six shutout innings, allowing just two hits, while walking none and striking out four.
The Dutchmen and the Mohawks will have another exciting game on Thursday, with Amsterdam looking to keep up their win streak, and Albany looking to play spoiler. First pitch on Thursday scheduled for 6:35.
