Wayne County Life

The Mohawk Valley Diamond Dawgs were looking to bounce back from a very disappointing 5-2 loss on Friday night, as they blew a 2-1 lead in the ninth with two outs. Unfortunately, as the great Yogi Berra said, it was déjà vu all over again for the Diamond Dawgs, as this time, the Newark Pilots took advantage of four errors by Mohawk Valley and knocked off the Diamond Dawgs, 7-2.

Mohawk Valley’s Nick Petrella (West Sayville, NY/Skidmore) and Newark’s Jayson Yano (Foothill Ranch, CA/Stevens), the starters for their respective teams, started out well for their respective teams, both going four scoreless innings.

The Pilots would draw first blood as Derek Reed (Lowell, Mass./Saint Rose) would smack a double in the fifth, scoring Logan Boyher (Chesterfield, Missouri/Columbia). The Diamond Dawgs would take the lead in the bottom of the fifth inning on an error, which would score Eric Strano (Robbinsville, NJ/Rider), and a big triple by Greg Fazio (Fair Hills, NJ/Rider), which would score Jayson Sullivan (Charlton, NY/Sacred Heart).

Unfortunately, that lead would be all that the Diamond Dawgs (17-11) would have, as the Pilots (18-13) would score three runs in both the sixth and seventh innings, two on a big home run by Jack Gerstenmaier (Richmond, VA/Virginia), and a throwing error by Petrella which would score Gerstenmaier and Braxton Wilks (Sugar Land, Texas/Kansas State).

Gus Craig (Eugene, Oregon/Columbia) would start the fireworks display in Little Falls early with a solo blast to center field off closer Daniel Imbro (Little Rock, Arkansas/Hendrix), but it was not enough, as Imbro would get the last three Diamond Dawgs in order to put the game away.

Yano would get the win for the Pilots, their third in a row, upping his record to 5-1. Petrella would pick up his first loss, the Diamond Dawgs’ third in a row, dropping his record to 4-1.

The Diamond Dawgs will try to get off the losing trail on Sunday as they will travel to Amsterdam to face the East-leading Mohawks. The Pilots will try to retake the West Division lead on Monday as they will head back to Colburn Park to face the Elmira Pioneers.