AMSTERDAM — Connor Jones and Kevin Francella homered at Shuttleworth Park on Thursday, July 30, and the Utica Blue Sox defeated Amsterdam’s Mohawks 10-2 in the twice-postponed East Division playoff final to earn a spot in the Perfect Game Collegiate Baseball League’s championship round.
The Blue Sox will not have long to celebrate. After the game between Utica and Amsterdam was rained out Tuesday and Wednesday as more than five inches of rain fell in the area, the PGCBL announced earlier in the day that Thursday’s winner would play a single game against West Division winner Batavia on Friday for the league championship instead of the scheduled best-of-three series.
Batavia’s Muckdogs, the West Division’s top team during the regular season, defeated the Jamestown Tarp Skunks 6-4 Tuesday. As the team with the better regular season record – 29-10-1 vs. Utica’s 25-18 – Batavia gets the home field for the championship game which will be played at Dwyer Stadium with the first pitch at 6:30 p.m.
Utica had finished third in the seven-team East Division behind Amsterdam (34-6-1) and Saugerties (25-11), and beat both on road in the playoffs to earn a shot at the league championship. The Blue Sox beat Saugerties’ Stallions 5-3 at Cantine Field Monday while Amsterdam was a 5-2 winner over the Oneonta Outlaws.
The Blue Sox had not beaten the Mohawks during the regular season, and they had allowed 116 runs in eight games.Batavia defeated the Auburn Doubledays 12-1 in its playoff opener.
Amsterdam scored first Thursday when Taylor Belza homered in the first inning, but Utica’s Wes Maskimow allowed only one more hit – Robert Melo’s leadoff double in the second – and handed off a 10-1 lead to the Blue Sox bullpen in the seventh.
Maskimow struck out four batters and walked three. He had started only once during the regular season, a 7-5 loss in Amsterdam during which he allowed four runs on six hits in four innings. He had two wins, one save and a 3.33 ERA in 11 total appearances and 24 1/3 innings.
Joey Kafka and Drake Aycock pitched in relief Thursday with Aycock getting the final out of the eighth inning after Kafka walked in a run then pitched a scoreless ninth. Aycock struck out three of the five Mohawks he faced.
Francella’s two-run home run gave Utica the lead after Anthony Perritano led off the second inning with a single. Amsterdam’s Saxon Roberts mostly matched Maskimow through the fourth inning with each pitcher allowing one home run, but the Blue Sox broke the game open in the fifth. Roberts was relieved after allowing a hit and a walk with one out, and Jones greeted new pitcher Evan Taylor with his home run, making the score 5-1.
The Blue Sox added four runs an inning later, scoring once on an error, twice on a Jack Sweeney triple, and again when Francella was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded.
Utica loaded the bases again in the seventh and scored its final run when RJ Thomae walked.
Perritano, Sweeney and Robbie Carvelli each had two of Utica’s nine hits, and Carvelli scored three runs. The Blue Sox drew nine walks and had four batters hit by pitches; Perritano had three walks and reached base five times.
The Blue Sox had rallied late in Monday’s game to advance. Saugerties starter Matt Murtagh and Lucas Vargo kept Utica scoreless through six innings, and the Stallions led 2-0 entering the seventh.
Carvelli started the seventh with a single and stole second base. Vargo walked Michael Flashner and was relieved by Merric Hunt. After the runners advanced on a bunt by Jones, the Blue Sox broke up the shutout with a run on a double by Sweeney, then took the lead on a two-run single by Perritano.
Sweeney added an RBI-single in the eighth following a Jones sacrifice fly.
Carvelli, Jones, Perritano and Sweeney each had two hits in Saugerties. Zebulon Hufnagle was the winning pitcher in relief, and Kafka pitched two innings for the save.
This article originally appeared on Times Telegram: Blue Sox play for PGCBL championship Friday in Batavia
Reporting by Jon Rathbun, Herkimer Times Telegram / Times Telegram
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Jon Rathbun, Herkimer Times Telegram | USA TODAY Network
