Olive Drives in Five as DiamondDawgs Defeat Adirondack 6-2

Olive Drives in Five as DiamondDawgs Defeat Adirondack 6-2
07/12/2017 8:16 PM –
LITTLE FALLS, N.Y. – How do you follow up a night in which you became the third person in Perfect Game Collegiate Baseball League history to hit for the cycle? Russ Olive had the perfect answer on Wednesday night.

The UMass-Lowell River Hawk followed up his cycle on Tuesday with a 5-RBI night, including three on a booming home run, and almost singlehandedly helped the Mohawk Valley DiamondDawgs defeat the Adirondack Trail Blazers, 6-2.

The first hint of trouble for Adirondack starter Kyle Cashman (Hicksville, NY/Pace) came in the bottom of the third, when a walk and back to back singles by Alexis Monge-Rodriguez (Pembroke Pines, FL/Barry) and Tim Zeng (Lumberton, NJ/Fairfield). Austin Pollack (Harrison, NY/Hofstra) would bring home the game’s first run just one batter later on a fielder’s choice that brought home Monge-Rodriguez. Russ Olive (Chelmsford, MA/UMass-Lowell) would bring the rest of them home in grand fashion, with a three-run shot that cleared the access gate in left-center field. The moon shot for Olive gives the Mohawk Valley slugger six on the year, tying him with Amsterdam’s Liam Wilson and Anthony Gonnella for the league lead. Both Mohawks were idle on Wednesday, as their game

The Trail Blazers got one back in the fifth on back to back doubles by Jordan Torrento (Warren, MI/Adrian) and Bay McIntosh (Orlando, FL/Florida Tech) that brought home Torrento. McIntosh would come home on a ball by Joe Simone (Wayne, NJ/Rider) that caromed off of the leg of DiamondDawgs starter Jack Fossand (Woodbury, MN/Dartmouth) and into left field. Unfortunately for Mohawk Valley, Fossand would not be able to recover, and was replaced two batters later by Levi Abrahamson (Mountain Home, ID/Treasure Valley CC). Despite being in a slight jam, Abrahamson was able to mitigate the damage and keep the lead at two.

Olive was not done, though, as the Mohawk Valley slugger laced a ball into left-center field in the seventh to score Johnny Mayer (Suffolk, VA/Norfolk State) and Zeng and extend the Mohawk Valley lead to four. That would be all that Trail Blazer reliever Joe Hamrick (Rochester, MI/Hillsdale) would give up, though, as Clay Koniencki (Schwenksville, PA/Monmouth) would fly out to end the seventh inning.

From there, Mohawk Valley reliever Douglas Molnar (Toms River, NJ/Wagner) would get himself into a second-and-third jam before setting down the next two Trail Blazers back-to-back to put the game away for Mohawk Valley (21-8).

Abrahamson picked up the win for Mohawk Valley. Cashman was saddled with the loss for Adirondack (10-21), who suffered their fourth straight loss, though they did snap a six-game streak in which they allowed ten runs or more.

These same two teams will meet for the third time this week on Friday, back at Veteran’s Memorial Park in Little Falls. Before that, however, the DiamondDawgs have one more engagement: at Damaschke Field in Oneonta for a game with the Outlaws.