PGCBL: Dye leads DiamondDawgs to victory

Jared Dye made sure the Mohawk Valley DiamondDawgs got at least one win Friday at Murnane Field. The weather deprived them of a chance for a second.

Dye, the reigning Perfect Game Collegiate Baseball League Pitcher of the Week, retired the first 13 Utica Brewers and pitched a complete game as the DiamondDawgs won the first game of a scheduled doubleheader 6-2. The teams played the final two innings with lightning in the eastern sky and the weather forced the second game to be postponed.

Dye struck out eight batters, walked two and allowed three hits in his second consecutive complete game. He retired PGCBL batting leader Michael Pierson on a fly ball to left field to start the fifth inning then gave up Ryan Valdes’ single through the right side of the infield for the first Utica hit and base-runner. Dye had Valdes picked off at first base but Valdes escaped a rundown and ended up at second; he later scored on a hit by Matt Hendricks.

The DiamondDawgs, winners for the sixth time in seven games, already led 6-0 when Valdes got the Utica offense started. They took advantage of two of the Brewers’ four errors and scored the first run of the game in the second inning. Dalton Herrington and Landon Thibodeaux each drove home a run with a hit in the second inning and Thibodeaux scored when Casey Rodrigue grounded into a force play. Jordan Friend drove in a run with his hit in the top of the fifth and Thibodeaux scored again on a throwing error.

The loss was the 10th in 12 games for the Brewers who own the league’s worst record. Four pitchers combined to walk eight Mohawk Valley batters and the defense contributed four errors, three by shortstop K’Shawn Smith.

The DiamondDawgs have allowed 14 runs in their last seven games. The win also moved the team past Amsterdam into third place in the East Division. Amsterdam was beaten 6-2 by Watertown in a rain-shortened game Friday.

Thibodeaux was 2-for-2 with two walks. Friend singled and walked three times in four trips to the plate.

The DiamondDawgs will play their final home game before the PGCBL All-Star break Saturday against the Newark Pilots. The game is also Mohawk Valley’s annual Pink Game for breast cancer research.