GLENS FALLS -- Pitching is all about routine, Matt McKissick will tell you, which is what he spent the entire 2006 season at the University of New Orleans trying to find.

By now, you can probably guess the framework of this story. Late last August, Hurricane Katrina descended upon the city. Some folks, like the UNO players, were lucky to evacuate. When they come back, nearly six months later, the city was ravaged. Teammates have lost everything. Baseball feels hollow, trivial.

When a whirlwind nine months finally settled, it dropped McKissick in Glens Falls, to rediscover his routine as a starting pitcher, the one that helped the lefty get drafted in the 40th round out of high school by the Colorado Rockies.

Friday night went a long way toward helping him reconnect.

McKissick and New Orleans teammate Adam Campbell threw eight innings without giving up an earned run in the Golden Eagles' 3-1 victory over Saratoga at East Field. With the win, Glens Falls chomped into Saratoga's first-place lead in the New York Collegiate Baseball League's East Division, which now stands at 2-1/2 games.

"I'm whipped, you can't tell?" McKissick asked a reporter after throwing 115 pitches, his second-highest total of the summer.

McKissick will talk to you just like he pitches: fast. Spend an evening watching him labor, and you'll be home in time to see the sun set. Spend 15 minutes talking to him, he'll tell you in no particular order about how good Nolan Ryan's book is, where to find the best roast beef po'boy in New Orleans and how, on Friday, there was no team he wanted to beat more than Saratoga.

His method of achieving the latter was simple. This was the fourth time he'd started against the rivals from down the Northway, and he knew they'd expect a healthy dose of changeups. He said he usually finishes a game with a 60/40 fastball/chanegup ration.

"I was more like 80/20 tonight," he said.

Sure enough, the Phillies looked frustrated most of the game, as they managed six harmless hits over 6-1/3 innings. McKissick, who entered the game with a team-low 3.09 ERA, gave way to Campbell with two runners in scoring position in the seventh, and his teammate retired the next two batters. Dallas Cawiezell, who had drove in the only two runs the team would need with a screaming double in the third, pitched the ninth for his fourth save.

For Campbell, the 1-2/3 innings of relief had added meaning -- they were thrown in front of his parents, Bob and Julie Campbell, fresh in from his native California. It was the first time they had seen their son pitch since junior college.

"Did you hear them play 'California Dreaming' when you came in?" his mother asked him after the game, beaming.

Said Campbell, "I didn't know I was going to pitch tonight, depending on the situation. ... It was nice. Matt had good stuff tonight, and I wanted to get him that win."

McKissick and Campbell left New Orleans days before Katrina hit the city, first thinking they first heard they were going to the University of Central Florida in Orlando.

"Which is, you know, nice," McKissick said.

They ended up at New Mexico State, quickly learning Las Cruces is not exactly Disneyworld. They didn't come back to New Orleans until the beginning of February, not liking what they saw. Their playing field showed the effects of being underwater for two weeks and the best restaurant near campus, the Bakery, was destroyed.

The team regrouped, winning the last four games of the regular season, which put them on the cusp of an NCAA berth. McKissick spent much of the year as the first guy out of the bullpen, which was strange for the guy that had been a starter in high school and junior college.

"I don't get relievers ... you're never available to develop a routine," he said. "Routine is everything."

McKissick said he feels most comfortable when he knows precisely when he's pitching and exactly who he's going to throw against. On Friday, the Golden Eagles were glad he knew both.



Saratoga Glens Falls

ab r h bi ab r h bi

Smith lf 3 0 0 0 Consolmagno cf 4 1 1 0

Webb rf 5 0 1 0 McWhorter lf 4 0 1 0

Mastroianni ss 0 0 0 0 Recknagel c 3 1 2 1

Bunkis 1b 4 0 1 0 Arensdorff rf 2 1 0 0

Scaglione 2b 4 1 1 0 Cawiezell dh/p 4 0 1 2

Nicolla 3b 3 0 1 0 Conan 3b 4 0 0 0

Dove cf 3 0 0 1 Konstanty 1b 3 0 0 0

O'Rourke c 4 0 1 0 Tews ss 4 0 2 0

Tann dh 3 0 2 0 Knight 2b 4 0 0 0

Totals 33 1 8 1 Totals 32 3 7 3

Saratoga (19-10) 000 000 010-- 1 8 1

Glens Falls (16-12) 002 000 10x -- 3 7 2

E -- Scaglione, Arensdorff, Knight. LOB -- Saratoga 11, Glens Falls 9. 2B -- McWhorter, Cawiezell. SB -- Dove, Tews 2, Consolmagno. S -- Smith.

IP H R ER BB SO

Saratoga

Spier, L 3-2 7 6 6 6 3 4

Ross 1 1 0 0 0 1

Glens Falls

McKissick, W 3-2 6.1 6 0 0 2 4

Campbell 1.2 2 1 0 0 3

Cawiezell, S 4 1 0 0 0 1 0