JUNE 13, 2004
Beatty leads Eagles to win over Phillies
By STEPHEN DRAVIS - Special to the Post-Star

GLENS FALLS -- After a painful spring at the University of Dayton in Ohio, Brad Beatty is inflicting some pain this summer for the Glens Falls Golden Eagles.

Beatty belted a two-run home run over the right-field wall at East Field on Saturday night to help lead the Eagles to a 4-1 victory over the Saratoga Phillies in New York Collegiate Baseball League action.

The Dayton senior missed much of the 2004 college season with a pair of injuries. But he is making the most of his chance to get back in the swing of things as a third baseman for the Eagles, who improved to 7-2 behind winning pitcher Jim Jansen.

"I didn't get a whole lot of time in the spring," Beatty said. "I broke my thumb and hyperextended my finger. ... I broke my thumb a week before the season started, and that took about six weeks. Then within a week after I got back, I was diving up the middle, and I hyperextended the finger.

"So it was sort of an ongoing injury."

Beatty managed to play in just 20 games for the Flyers, batting .186 in 43 at-bats.

But Glens Falls coach John Mayotte knew he was getting a quality prospect in Beatty, who hit 15 home runs and batted .351 as a sophomore at Southwest Illinois College and earned freshman All-America honors at Southeast Missouri State in 2001.

"You have to recruit people, and I sent questionnaires or information sheets to just about every coach in the country," Mayotte said. "When I get information back from a coach who really feels like this kid is going to be an everyday player for him, and he has him in the middle of the order and this kid can do this and do that -- that's what I want to hear.

"It was a setback for (Brad) this year that he broke his thumb and didn't get a lot of opportunity to play, but I tried to convince Brad and I'll convince any kid that when things go bad for you in the spring it's a chance for you to shine in the summer. And Brad's worked extremely hard. I saw him working out in the weight room yesterday on his day off. Brad is determined to be a great player this summer."

Beatty and the rest of the Eagles are off to a great start going into today's doubl-header against Watertown at 5 p.m. at East Field. Pitching has been a big part of the equation.

Mayotte has stressed that he expects pitching to dominate in the league in the early going. And that has been especially true in Glens Falls' two wins over the Phillies (2-6), who have managed just one unearned run in two games at East Field.

On Saturday night, Jansen settled down after walking the first two men he faced to scatter four hits while striking out three in seven innings. Stillwater's Shawn Ryan came in to pitch two innings of scoreless relief with a pair of strikeouts and one walk.

Glens Falls gave Jansen a two-run lead to play with in the bottom of the second inning. Aaron Hepner, Beatty's Dayton teammate, led off with a single to left, and Jeremy Goldschmeding doubled him home for the game's first run. Goldschmeding ended up scoring on an error to make it 2-1.

In the third, Chris Carlson reached on a single, and Beatty connected on a first-pitch fastball to stretch the lead to 4-0.

For Saratoga, which hosts Amsterdam today at 7 p.m., the game was a vast improvement over its East Field debut and season-opener on June 4.

That night, the Phillies booted four balls and failed to score a run. On Saturday, Saratoga committed just one error and made the game close when Drew Reynolds singled to lead off the seventh, moved up on an error and a sacrifice bunt and scored on Leo Corvino's groundout.

"Last week, we committed four errors and today we committed one," Saratoga coach Matt Mueller said. "We played pretty good defense."

It helped that Saratoga had five players in the lineup (including starting pitcher Bryan Fleming) who were not in uniform for last week's opener.

"We're getting everybody back, which is nice," Mueller said. "Once we start to really jell, I think it's coming. I think we're going to be right there. This division is going to be a pretty tight division. Everyone is pretty even."