JULY 31st – Weather puts DiamondDawgs on road to start playoffs

  • By JON RATHBUN
    Senior Sports Editor

    GLENS FALLS, N.Y. — The grounds at East Field were too wet for baseball Sunday and prompted another cancellation for the Mohawk Valley DiamondDawgs and Glens Falls’ Dragons.

    The DiamondDawgs and Dragons were rained out of four of their seven scheduled meetings this year. Twice, the wet grounds in Glens Falls forced the cancellation of doubleheaders well before game time.

    With the the regular season ending Sunday and the Perfect Game Collegiate Baseball League playoffs scheduled to begin Monday, there will be no attempt to make up Sunday’s games.

    Sunday’s cancellation cost Mohawk Valley its final shot at earning home field for its one-game playoff in the first round. The DiamondDawgs will instead travel to Albany Monday and meet the Dutchmen at Bob Bellizzi Field where they won a game Wednesday for the first time since 2013.

    Albany (28-20) was also rained out Sunday in Amsterdam and finished half a game ahead for Mohawk Valley (27-20) behind Amsterdam in the East Division.

    The Elmira Pioneers and Utica Blue Sox have home games in the West Division. The Newark Pilots and Jamestown Jammers were separated by half a game with Sunday’s outcomes set to determine which team travels where Monday.

    Albany trailed Mohawk Valley entering play Saturday and was down 6-5 against Saugerties when the DiamondDawgs wrapped up their final home game against Newark, a 4-3 defeat. The loss left the DiamondDawgs in a temporary tie with the Dutchmen — Albany owned the tie-breaker on the strength of a 5-3 head-to-head record — but would have regained their half-game lead with a Saugerties victory. The Stallions added a run in the top of the ninth and led 7-5 at Bellizzi Field before Albany rallied in its last at-bat, scoring three times to pull out an 8-7 victory and move ahead of the DiamondDawgs.

    Monday’s winners advance to the best-of-three division championship series which begin Tuesday. Albany or Mohawk Valley would play on the road in Game 1 against Amsterdam or would gain a Tuesday home game if Oneonta advances.

    Elmira is the top seed in the West and owned the best record in the league entering Sunday’s game against Adirondack. Amsterdam had the league’s best record each of the four previous seasons.

    Mohawk Valley is the defending champion after ending Amsterdam’s three-year run last summer.