GLENS FALLS -- Preparation lies just below breathing in John Mayotte's world of important things.
The veteran college baseball coach believes you can never scout too many players or see enough of a particular player.
So the beginning of a new season in the New York Collegiate Baseball League is a little tough to take for the Golden Eagles' returning head coach.
Not only is Mayotte unable to prepare normally for the opposition the Eagles will face, beginning tonight in Amsterdam, but he's not even sure what his own team will be like.
"I don't have any idea," Mayotte replied Thursday, when asked if his Golden Eagles will be as solid as 2004's 31-10 first-place club. "You see these guys and you hear reports about them, but until you see your team as a unit for some games, you just don't know."
Mayotte and the Eagles, who play their first home game Saturday at 7 p.m. at East Field against Mohawk Valley, will have to do quite a lot for an encore in their second season after capturing the Eastern Division title last year.
This season's Eagles do have two returning position players. Queensbury native Will Groff will again man the outfield after a strong season at Cortland State, while 2004 team MVP David Williams returns after a great spring at Rutgers.
"This is a huge, huge summer for Will," Mayotte said. "Last year he was still a football player playing baseball, whereas now he's 100 percent focused on baseball, and I think he could be a great college player."
Groff admitted it was difficult giving up his time on the gridiron.
"It was tough, but going through a whole year just playing baseball convinced me I did the right thing," he said. "You learn so much more just concentrating on one sport."
Last season the Golden Eagles' pitching was remarkably dominant, nearly always giving Glens Falls a chance to win.
Mayotte cautions that this year's staff can't be expected to automatically be as good.
"We don't have the Brett Zamzows and Jeremy Halls, those kids are special, elite pitchers," Mayotte said. "But we've got a lot of fresh young arms who have great potential."
Among those arms expected to succeed are Queensbury native Justin Mattes (Cortland) and Michigan State pitchers Mike Takashima and Matt Trausch.
Michigan State is a definite theme on this year's Golden Eagles. After the success of Ryan Basham in Glens Falls last year, the Spartans have sent four more players for this summer.
"Ryan had nothing but good things to say about the talent in the league, and how much it helped him," said Michigan State outfielder/pitcher Tony Clausen. "This is the kind of league where you can use a good summer to spur you into a great season the next spring."
Two changes in the NYCBL this season are that each team will play 47 games, instead of 42, and each squad will play several games outside of its own division.