Homerun Lifts Rome past Schenectady
Blakeley hits walk-off homerun in tenth inning

by Scott Montesano
Rome Indians Marketing Intern

(Rome, NY) Damian Blakeley made sure that his first ever summer collegiate league homerun was a memorable one.

The St. Bonaventure sophomore hit a walk-off solo homerun to leftfield, in the bottom of the tenth inning as the Indians defeated the Schenectady Mohawks 5-4 Sunday afternoon at DeLutis Field.

The homerun capped off a roller-coaster game that saw the Indians come back twice to beat the division leading Mohawks.

After falling behind 2-0 in the first inning, Rome clawed back to tie the game. Matt Devins hit an RBI double in the fifth to cut the deficit to 2-1. Then in the seventh, Kevin Ryan laid down a squeeze bunt that scored Kyle Mihalski to tie the game 2-2.

However, Schenectady came right back in the top of the eighth to regain the lead 5-2. With two runners on and one-out, Keith Brachold hit a bases clearing triple to give Schenectady a two run lead. Brachold later came across home plate when Rome pitcher Pat Dougherty was called for a balk.

Nevertheless, the Indians would show a resilience, which has allowed them to win five consecutive one-run games. Devins singled and Terron Acuff walked to start the inning. Then Jeremy O’Neill followed with an RBI single to cut the lead to 5-3.

After newcomer Cory Newman hit into a fielder’s choice, Kyle Barrett drove in another run with an RBI single. The next batter, Kyle Mihalski, tied the game with yet another RBI single.

Blake Wyatt earned the win for Rome, coming out of the bullpen to pitch the ninth and tenth innings.

Kyle Mihalski and Matt Devins finished the game with two hits apiece.

Rome is off until Wednesday night when they host Watertown at 7PM.

However, the 2002 NYCBL all-star game is scheduled for Monday night at 7pm in Little Falls. Five Indians will be a part of the Eastern Division squad including pitchers Blake Wyatt and Dan Sullivan, along with position players Terron Acuff, Jeremy O’Neill and Kevin Ryan. Indians’ manager Bill Kurich will be the skipper of the Eastern Division team.

The game can be seen on the Empire Sports Network.

Box Scores

Schenectady	200	000	030 0	-	5	9	1
Rome	000	011	030 1	-	6	10	3

WP: Wyatt (3-1)
LP: Miller (1-1)

2B: Schenectady – Joe Michalski
      Rome - Matt Devins
HR: Rome – Damian Blakeley (1)

Time: 2:18

Rome (11-8) Schenectady (13-6)