ELMIRA, N.Y. (NEWS10) — In a year that saw both the longest winning streak to start a season and longest overall winning streak in franchise history, the Amsterdam Mohawks’ 2023 season came to a fitting conclusion Thursday night in Elmira – with the team hoisting its’ seventh Perfect Game Collegiate Baseball League championship trophy.
The ‘Hawks shut out the Pioneers in game two of the best-of-three championship series, winning 3-0 at Dunn Field to complete the series sweep.
Pitching has been the backbone of Amsterdam’s postseason run, and Thursday night was no different. Niagara University rising senior Maximilian Ramirez tossed arguably the game of the year in the PGCBL, holding Elmira scoreless through seven innings of work, while striking out 13 and allowing just two hits and no walks.
Mohawks first baseman Cam Gurney provided the first run of the game in the fourth inning by scorching a double down the third-base line that plated Bruer Webster.
Amsterdam followed up in the fifth by pushing across two more runs. Third baseman Gage Miller was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded, and Webster followed up with an RBI single to push the margin to three runs.
That was all the support Ramirez needed. He handed the ball off to Jack Brodsky in the eighth, who recorded a six-out save to clinch the title.
Amsterdam allowed just two runs in its’ final 27 innings of baseball this season, and outscored the Pioneers 7-0 in the championship series. Gurney earned series Most Valuable Player; he went 5-8 with two RBI in the two games, and batted .538 in the playoffs, picking right up where he left off in the regular season when he led the team with a .430 average.
Amsterdam finishes the season with a staggering overall record of 40-5-1, and have now won seven of the 12 PGCBL championships. This is the first time they’ve repeated as champions since they won three straight from 2012-’14.