Large Crowd Watches Indians Win
Rome snaps brief losing skid

by Scott Montesano
Rome Indians Marketing Intern

(Rome, NY) The Rome Indians moved to within a half game of the Mohawk Valley Red Legs in the eastern division, with a 5-2 win in front of 246 fans Wednesday night at DeLutis Field.

Matt Devins had two hits, while Kyle Mihalski had two RBIs to lead the Indians offensively.

Meanwhile, Blake Wyatt allowed two runs on five hits over seven innings to earn his fourth win of the season. Soren Johnson pitched a scoreless eighth and ninth innings to pick up his league-leading fifth save of the season.

The victory for Rome comes after suffering back-to-back shutout losses. In fact, Rome entered the game having not scored a run in 24 consecutive innings.

That would all change in the first inning as the Indians snapped their drought with a pair of runs.

Kyle Barrett’s two-out single in the first scored Terron Acuff to make it 1-0. Barrett later scored on consecutive singles by Jeff Justice and Kyle Mihalski.

The Indians added to their lead in the third on a RBI triple by Justice and a sacrifice fly by Mihalski making the score 4-0

After Mohawk Valley made it 4-2 in the top of the seventh, the Indians picked up some insurance in their half of the inning.

Cory Newman led off with a single and then stole second and third base. He would score on a RBI single by Justice to make the score 5-2.

The Indians are now 4-0 this season against Mohawk Valley. The teams will meet again Thursday night in Little Falls at 7pm before returning to DeLutis Field on Friday also at 7pm.

With a little over a week left in the season, the Indians trail Mohawk Valley for the second and final playoff spot in the Eastern Division. Rome is .5 games behind Mohawk Valley, but has played three fewer games.

Tonight’s crowd of 246 is a season-high for the Indians and is the largest crowd the team has played in front of since opening night in Watertown (1,187).

The crowd was drawn by a Community Foundation night promotion and pregame judo exhibition.

Box Scores

WP: Blake Wyatt (4-2)
LP: Jake Haggarty (N/A)
S: Soren Johnson (5)

2B: MV – Shaen O’Connor, Jason Sullivan

3B: Rome – Jeff Justice

Time: 2:37
Att: 246

Rome (15-12) Mohawk Valley (17-13)