Mohawk Valley Tops Indians
Rome now 17-20

by Scott Montesano
Rome Indians Marketing Intern

(Little Falls, NY) Matt Pali hit a three-run homerun in the sixth inning as the Mohawk Valley Red Legs defeated the Rome Indians 9-7 in front of 183 fans at Veteran’s Park on Saturday night.

Jeff Justice and Damian Blakeley each two hits for the Indians in the losing effort.

With the win, Mohawk Valley has now taken three straight from Rome, after the Indians had won the first four games the teams had against each other.

The two teams will meet again Sunday afternoon at 1pm in Rome. It will be the final matchup of the season between the local rivals.

The loss drops the Indians to 17-20 with five games left in the season. Rome is trying to finish above .500 for the third consecutive season, which would be a first for the franchise since joining the league in 1986.

Mohawk Valley jumped to a 4-0 lead in the first inning.

After loading the bases with no outs, Fernando Alvarez had a RBI single. Shaen O’Connor followed with a two-run single to make it 3-0. A wild pitch later in the inning allowed another run to make it 4-0.

Indians starting pitcher Joe Brown settled down after the first inning, and the Rome offense eventually mounted a rally in the fourth inning.

With one out and the bases loaded, Kyle Mihalski was hit by a pitch to force in a run and Damian Blakely followed with an RBI single cut the deficit to 4-2.

Following a strikeout, Matt Devins delivered a two-run, two out single to tie the game 4-4.

After Mohawk Valley regained the lead 6-4 in the fifth, the Indians again came back in the sixth. Blakeley picked up his second RBI single of the game to make it 6-5.

Nontheless, in the bottom of the sixth inning, Pali delivered his game-breaking homerun to right-center extending the Red Legs’ lead to 9-5.

The Indians tacked one couple of runs in the eight but drew no closer than 9-7.

Keith Barber earned the win for Mohawk Valley, going seven innings and allowing five runs on eight hits. George Heath Jr. pitched the eighth, before Matt Cuttruff threw a 1-2-3 ninth for the save.

Joe Brown went seven innings, giving up nine runs (seven earned) on one hit. Amongst the league leaders in strikeouts, Brown finished with seven on the night.

Nick DeMaro pitched a scoreless eighth in relief.

As a team, the Indians had nine hits on the night continuing a positive trend at the plate as the season comes to an end.

Since Monday, the Indians have been hitting a solid .280 as a team. Individually, Jeff Justice has overcome a slow start to hit .370 over the past week.

Following the Indians game Sunday at home vs. Mohawk valley, Rome has one more home date. The Indians will host Schenectady on Monday in a makeup doubleheader at 4pm.

Rome’s season is scheduled to end Tuesday in Cortland with another makeup doubleheader.