Trail Blazers top DiamondDawgs in 11 innings

By TIMES TELEGTRAM STAFF REPORTS

BOONVILLE, N.Y. — The Mohawk Valley DiamondDawgs let one get away Friday.

The DiamondDawgs, playing on the road for the first time and seeking their first win of the season, let a 5-1 lead get away and lost 6-5 to the Adirondack Trail Blazers in 11 innings.

The DiamondDawgs had their lead behind David Palmer, a returning right-hander from the University of New Haven. Palmer allowed one unearned run on five hits while striking out eight batters and walking four through six innings.

The Trail Blazers got three runs in the seventh inning and an unearned run to tie the game in the bottom of the ninth. Amsterdam loaded the bases in the seventh against Herkimer College left-hander Chris Henry and St. John’s University’s Mark Venice cleared them with a two-out double.

Jon Sell, another Herkimer General, took the ball for the ninth inning for the DiamondDawgs. A single and a walk had Trail Blazers at first base and second with two outs when Venice’s fly ball was dropped, allowing Lorenzo Calderon of Marymount University to score the tying run.

Only one Mohawk Valley batter reached base in extra innings, Wagner University’s Sean Mazzio who singled with two outs in the top of the 11th. Long Island University’s Andrew Turner was the only other DiamondDawg to reach base after the sixth; he was hit by a pitch in the eighth inning.

Sell set the Trail Blazers down in order in the 10th inning but did not record an out in the 11th. Pinch-hitter Brandon Orbe from Marymount singled with bases loaded and and drove home the winning run.

Chestnut Hill College relievers Dino Cattai and Pat Geraghty, the wining pitcher, combined for five scoreless innings out of the Adirondack bullpen.

Rutgers University’s Mike Martinez and the University of Tennessee at Martin’s Tanner Wessling each had two of the DiamondDawgs’ eight hits.

Calderon was 3-for-4 with a walk in the leadoff spot for the Trail Blazers. LaSalle University’s Matt Manoogian scored two runs and also reached base four teams with a hit and three walks.