LITTLE FALLS — Perfect Game Collegiate Baseball League neighbors in Utica and Little Falls are heading in opposite directions as they enter the final weekend of the regular season.
Utica’s Blue Sox defeated Little Falls’ Mohawk Valley DiamondDawgs 15-13 on Sunday, July 19, extending streaks for both teams and all but assuring the Blue Sox of the third playoff spot in the East Division.
The Blue Sox won again Wednesday – 7-3 at home at Murnane Field – earning their eighth victory in nine games and fifth over the DiamondDawgs in two weeks.
Utica (24-16) trails Saugerties’ second-place Stallions (22-11) by a game and a half behind the division-leading Amsterdam Mohawks (31-6-1) with three games remaining on the schedule.
Mohawk Valley (15-23) has lost nine consecutive games and fallen to fifth place among seven teams. The DiamondDawgs play home games Thursday and Friday against the two teams trailing them in the East, Boonville’s Lumberjacks (8-27) and the Glans Falls Dragons (13-24) before ending the season with a game in Saugerties Saturday.
Utica plays two of its final three games against Amsterdam, winner of six games in a row, the first on the road Friday and Sunday’s regular season at Murnane Field at 5:15 p.m. In between, the Blue Sox make their final visit to Glens Falls.
Caldwell University right-hander Vinny Sangataldo allowed one run through the first six innings and pitched into the seventh for the Blue Sox Wednesday, winning his second consecutive start with support from Columbia University Jack McWilliams who gave Utica the lead with his fourth inning grand slam after Boden Fernsler from LaFayette College who had drawn a walk with the bases loaded to push the team’s first run home.
Leadoff hitter Jake Haarde had two hits, two RBI and scored a run for Mohawk Valley,
The DiamondDawgs who had been in a tight race with the Blue Sox before their late slump. Utica has beaten Mohawk Valley eight times in nine meetings this season, including wins in all six July games.
Rutgers University outfielder Jack Sweeney homered, doubled twice, drove in five runs and scored four times for Utica in Sunday’s slugfest.
The Blue Sox benefitted from early DiamondDawg errors that led to five unearned runs among the six scored in the first two innings, but Mohawk Valley bounced back with its own nine-run second inning to take a lead.
A bases-loaded double by Sweeney gave Utica a 10-9 lead in the top of the fourth, and the Blue Sox tallied five more runs to complete their scoring in that inning.
Aiden Streeter had a grand slam and drove in five runs for Mohawk Valley, and Wesley Alfonso also homered as the teams combined for 31 hits and 19 walks in a four-hour marathon.
Sweeney had also homered in both games of a doubleheader in Little Falls last week; teammate Conner Jones hit a first inning grand slam and drove in six runs in a 14-6 victory in the opener, and the Blue Sox homered three times in a 10-5 win in Game 2.
The Blue Sox scored five runs in the first inning and seven in the eighth when they won the teams’ July 10 meeting in Utica 15-8.
The head-to-head win streak started with a 9-3 Utica win at home July 1.
Mohawk Valley’s lone win over the Blue Sox was a 7-1 June 20 victory at Veterans Memorial Park in Little Falls. Utica had won two previous games 19-1 and 5-4 in 10 innings.
Playoff format
Postseason play starts Monday with upper seeds hosting one-game divisional semifinals. The top four teams in each division qualify with the first-place finishers hosting fourth place and second hosting third.
Monday’s winners advance to play divisional finals Tuesday at the higher seeds, and the division winners meet in a best-of-three championship series starting Wednesday.
Saugerties is the defending champion and also won in 2021 with Amsterdam winning three consecutive championships in between. The Mohawks have won eight of 14 championships since the PGCBL split off from the New York Collegiate Baseball League before the 2011 season, and the East Division has won 12 times.
All-stars Selected
The league no longer contests an all-star game but instead selects a midseason all-star team in addition to its postseason honors.
Amsterdam received nine of the 31 midseason selections for the East Division while Mohawk Valley had six, Utica four, Boonville two, and Oneonta three.
Representing the Blue Sox are Sweeney, who is third in the league with eight home runs, infielders Xavier Smith and Anthony Perritano, and pitcher John Rigas.
The Mohawk Valley selections were pitcher Brandon Lynn, catcher Joe Crenshawm infielders Byron Arias and Connor Scanlon, and outfielders Erick Diaz and Haarde.
The Boonville picks were pitcher Jaxson Baptist and utility player Michael Crenshaw.,
Oneonta was represented by pitcher Braeden Johnson, catcher Vincent Duffy, and utility player PJ Strand.West Division leader Batavia also had nine all-star selections.
Rigas and teammates Drake Aycock and Brandon Peterson have been among the East Division’s Pitcher of the Week honorees this season, as has Boonville’s Tyson Harmon. DiamondDawgs Crenshaw and Kyle Coleman have each been selected as a Player of the Week in the East.
This article originally appeared on Times Telegram: Utica Blue Sox streaking to Perfect Game Collegiate Baseball playoffs
Reporting by Jon Rathbun, Herkimer Times Telegram / Times Telegram
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Jon Rathbun, Herkimer Times Telegram | USA TODAY Network
