PUTTING THE HAMMER DOWN: CARPENTER, CIMILLO POWER MOHAWK VALLEY TO WIN OVER GENEVA

 by  | Jun 25, 2019 

LITTLE FALLS, NY – In trucker lexicon, “putting the hammer down” means to go faster. At Veteran’s Memorial Park on Tuesday night, that term had a whole new meaning.

Home Runs from Joseph Carpenter and Nick Cimillo allowed the Mohawk Valley Diamond Dawgs to ride a six-run fourth inning to a 12-1 victory over the Geneva Red Wings.

Mohawk Valley got on the board early in the first, but not by virtue of their bats. A balk by Geneva starter Zach Crane (Auburn, NY/Hilbert) brought home Jake Barbiere (Randolph, NJ/Rider). The lead would extend even further, on a home run to straightaway center field by Joseph Carpenter (Cornwall, PA/Delaware). That hit would bring home not only himself but local player Dylan Klock (St. Johnsville, NY/St. Thomas Aquinas).

The Red Wings would pick up a home run of their own in the fourth. Trevor Rogers (Mountain View, CA/San Francisco State) hit his fourth home run of the season, on a ball hit into right-center field. Rogers’ solo shot cut the lead to two.

However, Mohawk Valley would not give up so easily, using their powerful bats to their advantage. Carpenter and Justin Guerrera (Watertown, CT/Fairfield) would bring home runs by virtue of RBI singles to bring the lead back to four. They would all pale in comparison to Nick Cimillo’s (Airmont, NY/Manhattan) hit. Cimillo would hit a grand slam, almost in the same spot Carpenter put his, to give Mohawk Valley a 9-1 lead. That home run was Cimillo’s sixth of the season, making him the league leader.

Carpenter struck again in the fifth, with a hot grounder up the middle out of reach of the Geneva second baseman. That hit would score Barbiere and give the Diamond Dawgs a 10-1 lead. The lead would swell to 10 in the seventh, on an RBI sacrifice by Kyle Maurice. The good fundamentals would continue in the eighth, as another sacrifice by CJ Rodriguez would bring the lead to 12.

That would be all starter Jimmy Joyce (Wantagh, NY/Hofstra) and reliever Luc Scudalleri (Roswell, GA/Georgia College) would need, keeping the Red Wings to one hit in the ninth to ice the game for Mohawk Valley (11-9). Joyce would pick up the win for the Diamond Dawgs, while Crane got the loss for Geneva (10-5). The Diamond Dawgs have now picked up back-to-back wins, while the Red Wings’ three-game winning streak is over.

The Diamond Dawgs will enjoy an off day on Wednesday before meeting back at Veteran’s Memorial Park on Thursday for their third game in four days with the Adirondack Trail Blazers. The Red Wings will be in action on Wednesday night for a doubleheader with the Newark Pilots.

Photos by Dave Warner