Diamond Dawgs Give Adirondack Their 30th Loss, Knock Off Trail Blazers, 5-2
LITTLE FALLS, NY—It’s been a long hard road for the Adirondack Trail Blazers this season.
The lowly Trail Blazers have only managed eight wins in 37 games going into Sunday night’s game at Veteran’s Memorial Park. Unfortunately, the Mohawk Valley Diamond Dawgs did not do them any favors.
The Diamond Dawgs took advantage of a four-run fifth inning, stifling the Trail Blazers with solid pitching from then on, giving Adirondack their 30th loss of the season by a 5-2 score.
The Trail Blazers would start off the game with four straight singles. It would be the third one, however, that would give Adirondack the early lead, as an RBI single by Kyle Cunningham (Jupiter, FL/St. John’s University) would score Kenny Collins (Weston, CT/Hamilton College). That would be all that starter Jonathan McKinney (Marietta, Georgia/Georgia College) would give up, as he would get the last three Trail Blazers out while getting out of a bases-loaded jam to end the first inning.
The Diamond Dawgs would tie up the score in the third, as a sacrifice fly by Drew Arciuolo (Milford, CT/Fairfield University) would score Justin Fowler (Aliso Viejo, CA/Dartmouth College).
Mark Venice (Bayonne, NJ/St. John’s University) would give the Trail Blazers the 2-1 lead in the next inning, as he would come home on a double play by Donald Goodson (Detroit, MI/Prairie State College).
Arciuolo would give the Diamond Dawgs the lead in the bottom of the fifth, as his two-RBI single would score Fowler and Sean Mazzio (West Chester, PA/Wagner College). Kevin Radziewicz (Cromwell, CT/Fairfield University) would bring Arciuolo home quickly, as his RBI double would bring the Mohawk Valley center fielder home. Radziewicz would come home himself on an RBI single from Michael Ketchmark (Dallas, TX/Dartmouth College).
Those three runs would be all Mohawk Valley relievers Lucas Godlewski (Little Falls, NY/Monroe CC), David Palmer (East Islip, NY/University of New Haven) and Colin Bohnert (West Caldwell, NJ/Rutgers University) would need, as they would combine to hold the Trail Blazers to five hits the rest of the way and close the book on Adirondack.
McKinney would pick up his second win of the season for Mohawk Valley (19-15) to being his record to 2-1. Josh Partridge (Deerfield, NH/St. Joseph’s College of Maine) would be saddled with the loss for Adirondack (8-30).
The Diamond Dawgs will head to Donovan Stadium in Utica for their last game before the All-Star break, facing off against their Route 5 rival, the Utica Blue Sox. The Trail Blazers will have a long time to think about their loss on Sunday to the Diamond Dawgs, as they will not play until Thursday, heading back to Robert Smith Sports Complex in Boonville to take on the Geneva Red Wings.