Collegiate baseball: Mazzotta, Watertown Rapids overcome late lapse to prevail in 10 innings

Jun. 21—WATERTOWN — Coming off a rough and challenging week, the Watertown Rapids displayed resilience that paid off on Tuesday night.

After leading for much of the game against division rival Mohawk Valley, the Rapids blew the lead late, but bounced back to edge the DiamondDawgs, 6-5, in 10 innings in a Perfect Game Collegiate Baseball League game at Toyota Field at the Alex T. Duffy Fairgrounds.

Nick Mazzotta, who squandered a save opportunity in the ninth inning, recovered by pitching a scoreless 10th and also drove in the winning run in the bottom of the inning.

"I told coach I wanted to go back out there, I shut it down," Mazzotta said.

"The perseverance just to go out there and want that second inning and bounce back, he did a great job for us battling out there," Watertown coach Mike Kogut said.

Mazzotta yielded the lead in the ninth as Jaden Ross singled and scored on Mitch Balint's single to right field with two outs. He totaled a pair of strikeouts to work out of further trouble.

"It feels great," Mazzotta said. "It's been a tough couple games with the bats. We took advantage of a couple mistakes and held the lead until the ninth. I came in, I had a little trouble finding the zone. I settled in, they had a nice hit to tie the game and I struck out the last batter."

He blanked Mohawk Valley in the top of the 10th, again working out of a jam after issuing a one-out walk, and recorded a strikeout and received a flyout to center field to end the threat.

He then redeemed himself at the plate. With Jake Swerdloff standing on second base to begin the bottom frame, Swerdloff advanced to third on Jax Miller's groundout to first and after Owen Parliament walked, Swerdloff scored when Mazzotta reached on a infield fielder's choice to drive in the deciding run.

"Being a two-way guy, he gets to be up at the plate after he shuts them out and he gets a guy on third with less than two outs and he does the job and gets the run in," Kogut said of Mazzotta. "And now we walk away with the victory."

"It's great, I was excited, obviously," Swerdloff said. "A tie game, scoring the winning run, it doesn't get any better than that."

Watertown, which had three games rained out last week, bounced back after losing back-to-back games this past weekend to Amsterdam and Boonville.

"That was a good one, the boys played hard," Kogut said. "We knew coming into this week that we're going to have to get some wins and Sunday didn't start out too hot for us. We kind of challenged the boys postgame Sunday to turn it around and they responded well."

"We had a tough week," Swerdloff said. "But we talked as a team about bouncing back and staying together and finding ways to win games."

The Rapids, who had won only once in their previous six games, including a loss at Mohawk Valley, improve to 5-9 on the season.

"They're a solid team over there, they've got a lot of good talent," Swerdloff said of Mohawk Valley. "We just had to keep battling, we played good defense today, we were pitching well and we found a way to win."

Mazzotta, who played as a designated hitter for most of the game, recorded his first win of the season in his second appearance on the mound.

"I'm just very happy we got the win," Mazzotta said. "It was a great team win, everyone came together at the end and that's what you want to happen — it's a good team win."

He also capped a solid pitching performance collectively by Watertown as starter Jared Duquette allowed two runs in five innings of work, striking out six while walking none.

Maverick King then threw two innings, yielding two unearned runs, and Kaelen Clarkson struck out the side in his one inning of work in the eighth to set the stage for Mazzotta.

"Our pitching staff was phenomenal," Kogut said. "Jared gives us five and did a great job, Maverick comes in and gives us two innings, but (gave up) two unearned runs and the one inning he had to get a bunch of different outs, but he battled through and picked up his defense. And then Kaelen comes in and gives us the setup role.

"And then Nick, he's going to be our closer, he gives one up, which is tough, but he came right of the mound and said he wanted the ball in the 10th. And starting off with a guy on second base, he was able to keep them off the board, which made our job easier in the bottom of the 10th."

After Mohawk Valley led 1-0 in the first inning on an RBI single from Balint, Watertown tied the game in the second as Mazzotta walked and scored on a wild pitch.

The Rapids took a 3-1 advantage in the third as Terence Moynihan walked and scored on David McCann's RBI groundout, Nick Locurto singled and later scored on an error.

After Mohawk Valley drew within 3-2 in the fifth inning on an RBI single from Ross, Watertown answered with two runs to lead 5-2 in the bottom of the frame as Moynihan hit a leadoff single and Locurto doubled, with Miller delivering a two-run single to right field with two outs.

The DiamondDawgs then plated two runs in the sixth inning to draw within 5-4, taking advantage of a pair of infield errors by the Rapids.

Locurto finished 3-for-5 on the night and scored a pair of runs to pace Watertown offensively.

Balint collected three hits of his own, including a double, and also scored two runs to lead Mohawk Valley (10-4).

"That's a great team over there and we beat them for a second time this year," Kogut said. "They're really putting a hurting on the rest of the league, so it shows we have the players to be successful."

"It feels good, it's nice to get a win against those guys, they talk a lot," Swerdloff said.

The Rapids will host Boonville today, then play at Amsterdam on Thursday before returning to host Boonville again on Friday, both 6:30 p.m. starts at the Fairgrounds.

"I love it here, the guys love it here," added Mazzotta, who attended Fairleigh Dickinson, but is transferring to Wagner College. "It's a great feeling to play here, a great organization, great coaches, it's a lot of fun here."