SARATOGA SPRINGS -- Jake Shaffer is used to swift baseball games, the kind where you barely have time to chew through a stick of gum.

What he is not used to is what's unfolded the last two nights between the Glens Falls Golden Eagles and Saratoga Phillies -- New York Collegiate League Baseball games that creep by, stretching well past three hours.

Shaffer, you see, hits with an unforgiving wooden bat in his Division II college league. The bats give pitchers a real edge and place runs at an definite premium. Games fly by.

Glens Falls' 8-7 win over Saratoga Wednesday night at East Side Rec certainly didn't fly by, but for Shaffer, this was a good thing. He came up to the plate five times, finishing with a team-high three hits and two runs scored.

Glens Falls (3-1) scored the first eight runs, but nearly saw the Phillies (3-1) storm all the way back. Saratoga scored twice in a ninth inning that saw it leave the bases loaded. Right fielder Donnie Webb paced the Phillies with two hits and two runs scored.

"We were real sharp early," Eagles coach John Mayotte said, alluding to the first four innings, where his team scored all its runs.

Shaffer -- coming off his first season at Northern Kentucky, a school northeast of Louisville and practically in Ohio -- scored the first run of a four-run third inning and pounded a sharp RBI double in the next. One night after going 0-for-4 against the same team, he said he was seeing the ball better.

Northern Kentucky plays in the Great Lakes Valley Conference, which uses wooden bats for league games. All of Division I and nearly every other NCAA team uses metal bats. Shaffer said he feels better prepared for the next level by hitting with wood -- and better prepared for these kind of summer leagues.

"Our stats are truer," said Shaffer, who hit a team-best .347 in 52 games this season.

Justin Matta, a hulking right-hander out of Midland College, hurled three shutout innings in relief for the Golden Eagles. He didn't allow a hit and struck out four.

"Matta was the difference, absolutely," Mayotte said.

The Golden Eagles travel to Bennington today for a 5 p.m. game. They'll be back at East Field Friday and Saturday for home games.

GLENS FALLS SARATOGA

ab r h bi ab r h bi

Owens 2b 5 0 0 0 Webb rf 5 2 2 1

Schaffer rf 4 2 3 1 Rose cf 4 2 1 0

Kelly 1b 4 1 1 0 Willis lf 5 0 2 3

Mahoney 3b 4 1 1 1 Nicolla 1b 4 0 0 1

Larson dh 3 1 0 1 Powers 3b 5 1 1 0

Feliz cf 4 1 1 2 Cook dh 4 0 1 0

Gregory lf 2 1 0 1 Walker c 4 1 1 1

Mercurio c 5 0 1 0 Harris ss 3 0 1 0

DeGeorge 2 1 2 2 Hunt 2b 4 1 0 0

Cooke lf 0 0 0 0 Zeronda pr 0 0 0 0

Fields pr 0 0 0 0

Totals 33 8 9 9 Totals 38 7 9 6

Glens Falls (3-1) 024 200 000 -- 8 9 2

Saratoga (3-1) 000 050 002 -- 7 9 1

E -- DeGeorge 2, Webb. DP -- Saratoga 1. LOB -- Glens Falls 9, Saratoga 10. 2B -- Schaffer, DeGeorge 2, Webb. SAF -- Gregory. SB -- Schaffer, DeGeorge, Powers. CS -- Schaffer.

IP H R ER BB SO

Glens Falls

Denault 4.2 5 4 4 2 8

Clyde, W (1-0) .1 1 0 0 2 0

Latta 3 0 0 0 0 4

Skees, S 1 3 2 2 1 1

Saratoga

Spier, L 2 4 6 6 5 2

Zongol 6 5 2 2 3 8

Lamm 1 0 0 0 0 2

Spier pitched to five batters in the third. Clyde pitched to two batters in the sixth.

WP -- Spier 2, Clyde 2. HBP -- Harris (by Latta), Larson (by Zongol).