Dodgers Fall in Finals
8/8/2009
The Hornell Dodgers and the Amsterdam Mohawks took the 458 people at Maple City Park on a wild ride in game two of the NYCBL finals.  Behind a two-out two-run single by Tony Pantane in the 7th inning, the Mohawks won the NYCBL crown with a 11-10 victory.

The Mohawks came out of the bat swinging scoring two runs with minutes of the first pitch courtesy of single by Justin Fradejas and Dan Gamache and a two-run double by Brendan Kapteyn.

Hornell tied it up in the 3rd inning when Brad Gibson (Erie CC) and Paul Olson (Mississippi Valley State) hit sacrfice flies to plate Jeff Lockwood (U of Tennesse) and Trey Bennett (Mercyhurst).  Lockwood was hit by a pitch and Bennett had doubled.

The Dodgers took a four-run lead in the 4th inning by taking advantage of wild Mohawk pitching.  Johnathan Keppler (Mercyhurst) had a RBI single while Gibson, Olson, and Derek Speaker (Alfred State) all walked with the bases loaded.

Amsterdam answered right back with four runs of their own in the 5th keyed by a RBI single by Kapteyn, a bases loaded walk to Joe Scalfani, a field choice RBI by Mel Rojas, and a error.

Kapteyn continued his solid day in the 6th when he lifted a three-run, two-out homer to give the Mohawks back the lead.  Fradejas and Gamache had singled with two outs to start the two-out rally.

Lockwood and Bennett led off the bottom of the 6th with hits to get the Dodgers going again.  Lockwood came around to score on a fielding error and Bennett scored on a RBI single by Gibson to make it 9-8.  Berto Vargas (Alfred State) tied it up with a RBI single through the right side and Olson scored on a wild pitch to give the Dodgers the lead once again, 10-9.

In the 7th, the Mohawks once again got a clutch two-out hit to take the lead for good.  Patane blooped a single in front of left fielder Trey Bennett to give the Mohawks the deciding 11-10 advantage.

The Mohawk bullpen of Sean McKeown and Ryan Smith held the Dodgers to just one hit and a walk over the final three innings to seal the victory.

Bennett was 2 for 4 with three runs scored while Keppler was 2 for 5 with a RBI.  Gibson was 1 for 1 and drove in three runs.  Hornell worked 10 walks in the game.

Kapteyn finished 3 for 5 with 6 RBI while Fradejas and Gamache were each 3 for 5 with three runs scored.  The Mohawks collected 18 hits in the win.

The NYCBL Championship was the 4th in franchise history for the Mohawks and third won in series versus the Hornell Dodgers (2003 & 2004).

The Dodgers were playing in the 6th NYCBL Championship in the 2000's and finish the season with a 34-14 mark.