JULY 30, 2004
Late rally not enough as Eagles' season ends
By MICHAEL LEWIS - mlewis@poststar.com

NATHAN PALLACE - THE POST-STAR Golden Eagles head coach John Mayotte stands in the dugout Thursday looking visibly upset after his team’s season ended with a 6-5 loss.

GLENS FALLS -- Just for a minute, it looked like there was one miracle left.

All summer the Glens Falls Golden Eagles have been waiting until the last minute to rally and win baseball games.

They've done it so many times, you come to expect it.

So Thursday afternoon, when they trailed the Amsterdam Mohawks 6-1 in the ninth inning of Game 2 of the NYCBL Divisional Playoffs, Glens Falls finally stirred.

About to be swept out of the postseason and startlingly sent home early, the Golden Eagles put forth a stirring rally.

Still trailing by five with two outs, Glens Falls scored four runs, including three on a bases-clearing double by Brad Beatty.

The tying run was on third, Eric Lawson was up, and the East Field crowd was on its feet, hoping this summer of winning could continue.

But Lawson grounded harmlessly back to the mound, and just like that, the comeback was extinguished.

Amsterdam finished off the rain-suspended game, 6-5, and earned its third straight trip to the NYCBL Championship Series.

For the Eagles, a wire-to-wire run as Eastern Division champs ended up being for naught.

"I would have been really (ticked) if we lost 6-1, and just quit," Glens Falls coach John Mayotte said. "I would've been crushed. But the kids fought and one more hit, who knows what would've happened."

The season finale for Glens Falls had a weird feel to it; rain postponed Game 2 in the middle of the fifth inning Wednesday night with the Mohawks up 6-1.

A reliever, Josh Barnett started the game for Amsterdam and despite recording several loud outs, held Glens Falls down until the ninth.

Steven Calicutt pitched four innings of shutout relief for the Golden Eagles, setting the stage for the dramatic ninth.

"I was sure we were going to do something, because we've been finding ways to rally all summer," said Glens Falls outfielder David Williams. "Then Eric gets up and I'm sure he was going to get a hit."

But the Eagles failed, and had to watch Amsterdam celebrate at East Field.

Glens Falls had won six of eight games against Amsterdam in the regular season, and as late as the seventh inning of Game 1 Monday night, appeared to be in command.

But Mohawks coach Nicholas Enriquez said he thinks Joe Mariano's solo homer off Brett Zamzow in the seventh inning of Game 1 turned the series around. The series cut Amsterdam's deficit to 4-2, and the Mohawks ended up winning that game, 6-4.

"We were still down but all of a sudden, the bench started believing we could win," Enriquez said.

For the Eagles players, the loss Thursday marked the end of a summer that saw them inhabit first place virtually from start to finish.

"It's a shock right now because I expected us to win it all," Terry Blunt said. "We all wanted to win for coach so badly."

Amsterdam will play the winner of the Hornell-Allegany County series in the championship series, starting today in Amsterdam.