CONTACT: Lawrence Snyder, (518) 629-7898, l.snyder2@hvcc.edu
FOR RELEASE: Immediate, Thursday, April 27, 2017
The Hudson Valley Community College baseball team (16-12) split with Mohawk Valley Community college (13-9) on Thursday afternoon. The Vikings lost game one, 5-4 and won game two in the eighth inning, 2-1.
In game one, the Vikings trailed the Hawks 5-1 heading into the last inning. Brandon Cellucci (Averill Park/Troy) started the inning off with a triple and later scored off of a single hit by Mike Graves (Bethlehem/Bethlehem).
The next batter hit a fly ball to center field for the first out for Hudson Valley. With Graves still on first, Jonnie Benniefield (H.B. Plant/Tampa, FL) hit a line drive single into the gap, moving Graves into scoring position.
The second out was another fly ball to center field, which brought up Luuk Visser (Thorbecke Voortgezet Onderwijs The Hague/Holland, Netherlands) next to bat. Visser worked a hitter's count before smacking the ball deep to the warning tracks for a two-run double, putting the Vikings within one. Unfortunately, after two pitches the Hawks recorded the last out of the inning with a ground ball to shortstop.
Cellucci led Hudson Valley going 2-2 at the plate, including a triple and one run. Visser also recorded two hits, with a double, two RBIs and a run in the loss.
Dan Yankowski (Ichabod Crane/Valatie) pitched all eight innings in the second game against Mohawk Valley. He faced 31 batters, striking out seven, walking only one and had no earned runs.
The Vikings scored first in the second inning when Austin Lawrence (Columbia/East Greenbush) hit an RBI single scoring Dominick Herald (CBA/Colonie). The Hawks answered in the third scoring their only run on an error.
In the eighth, Cellucci worked a walk on five pitches and then advanced to second when Mohawk Valley's pitcher got called for a balk. With a runner in scoring position, Garrett Klahr (Shaker/Latham) looped the ball into left field scoring Cellucci for the winning run.
The men travel to Columbia-Greene on Saturday starting at 1 p.m.