Collegiate baseball: Watertown Rapids rally from large deficit but still fall to Amsterdam
Jul. 1—WATERTOWN — The Watertown Rapids are winless in six games against the first-place Amsterdam Mohawks after Saturday's 9-7 loss at Toyota Field at the Alex T. Duffy Fairgrounds.
But in light of how the Rapids recovered from a huge early deficit, they can't be blamed for wanting to face the Mohawks sooner than their next scheduled game between the two teams July 15.
The Rapids (8-14) gave up seven runs in the first inning and trailed 9-1 after the top of the third but crawled back into the game over the next six innings before running out of answers in the bottom of the ninth.
The first seven Amsterdam players reached base against Rapids starter Cory Arthur, and the Mohawks (22-1) took advantage of three singles, two walks, a hit batter, two errors and a sacrifice fly for the big first inning.
Amsterdam scored a run each in the second and third innings but was blanked the rest of the game. Former Lyme pitcher Mike Flyzik replaced Arthur to start the second inning and pitched five innings, allowing five hits and two runs (one earned). Former South Jefferson player Corey Roberts and Jefferson Community College's Kaelen Clarkson wrapped up the final three innings, allowing no runs on three hits.
Luke Longo drove in two runs on two hits for Amsterdam. Bruer Webster and Jalen DeBose each added two hits.
The Rapids totaled 15 hits. Jax Miller went 3-for-5, Nick Mazzotta drove in three runs on two hits, David McCann added two hits and two RBIs, Nick Locurto supplied two hits and an RBI, and Gaetan Grandelli and Malachi Flaherty each added two hits as well.
Watertown scored two runs in the bottom of the eighth inning on an error by the Amsterdam left fielder to pull within two runs of the Mohawks, but the Rapids went down in order in the ninth.
