JULY 29, 2004
Golden Eagles' season remains in limbo status
By MICHAEL LEWIS - mlewis@poststar.com

AMSTERDAM -- It wasn't Carlson, Blunt or Basham who saved the Glens Falls Golden Eagles' season Wednesday night.

A higher force outdid them all.

Facing a 6-1 deficit in Game 2 of their New York Collegiate Baseball League playoff series against Amsterdam, and already down 1-0 in the best-of-three series, the Eagles received a nice gift when the heavens opened and poured rain down onto their heads.

Coupled with thunder and lightning, the rain forced postponement of the game in the bottom of the fifth inning.

In addition to temporarily staving off elimination, the Eagles will get home field advantage back. Game 2 will resume today at East Field at 5 p.m., and if Glens Falls rallies and wins, the deciding Game 3 will be played immediately after, at 7 p.m.

"We're losing, but I still wanted to keep playing tonight," Glens Falls coach John Mayotte said. "There was still plenty of time for us to come back.

"But sure, it'll be nice getting to play at home."

Glens Falls looked to be shockingly eliminated in two games early Wednesday. Starter Jeremy Hall, the Eagles' No.2 starter all summer, was rocked for four hits and six runs in the bottom of the first.

Hall allowed the first six Mohawks batters to reach base, and was finally lifted after just 1/3 of an inning.

"I'm stunned, absolutely stunned, at what happened to Jeremy," Mayotte said. "He gets out of jams all the time, but tonight he just didn't have his command and they hit him."

Glens Falls had plenty of chances to get back in the game, but missed two huge opportunities to cut into the deficit.

In the third, the Eagles put Terry Blunt and Will Groff on second and third with no outs against Amsterdam starter Derrick Gordon. But Ryan Basham popped up, Chris Carlson struck out and David Williams grounded out to end the rally.

Then in the fourth, Glens Falls had the bases loaded with one out, but again failed to come through with any runs. A Blunt pop-up and Groff strikeout ended the threat.

Mayotte said he'd likely turn to lefty reliever Randy Cornejo to "start" Game 2, saving Stephen Calicutt for Game 3.