GLENS FALLS * A few minutes after his players cleared the dugout, appeasing the horde of kids jockeying for autographs, John Mayotte lingered, hands on hips, pacing. For the first time this season, he looked like a man with something to worry about.

Little Falls — a team the Golden Eagles handled eight times without a loss during the regular season — had just taken Game 1 of the Eastern Division semifinals of the New York Collegiate Baseball League with a 6-4 win. And Mayotte’s Golden Eagles, who won a league-best 34 games during the regular season, are suddenly perched on the brink of elimination.

Game 2 of the three-game series is tonight in Little Falls. Brian Moran will start for Glens Falls, which is in a win-or-go-home situation.

More than Moran’s 1.52 ERA, the Eagles have reason for confidence. As Mayotte told the club in a short post-game meeting, they “haven’t lost more than one in a row all season.”

They havenÂ’t been in this situation often. Glens Falls (34-7) entered the postseason as the No. 1 seed after tying the league record for wins. Little Falls (18-25), the fourth seed, had to win a tiebreaker to qualify for the postseason.

But a short series changes fortunes quickly.

The Miners jumped out to a 2-1 lead after two innings, then scored four runs in the third on five consecutive hits to chase Golden Eagles starter Barry Keiffer (4-3). The Eagles chipped away with solo home runs by Mike Konstanty, Casey Larson and Brad Johnson, but couldnÂ’t string together a big inning.

“We were always one hit away,” said Scott Denault, who kept the Eagles in the game by throwing 6 2/3 innings of scoreless relief.

Denault came in with a runner on second and retired the next 10 Miners before allowing a hit in the seventh. A reliever at San Diego, Denault said heÂ’s used to coming in under pressure.

“You just have to come in and throw strikes,” he said.

ThatÂ’s something Little Falls starter Dan Seip (4-3) did regularly. Seip gave up nine hits, but stranded five men on base and got strong defense behind him. The Miners turned two slick, rally-killing 4-6-3 double plays.

“We swung the bat well,” Mayotte said, adding that giving up solo home runs and avoiding the big inning was a recipe for keeping a team in the game.

And as it turned out, a recipe for giving a coach something to worry about.

LITTLE FALLS GLENS FALLS

ab r h bi ab r h bi

Gonzalez 2b 5 0 0 0 Owens 2b 4 0 1 0

Leskiw cf 5 0 0 0 DeGeorge ss 3 0 0 0

Edwards 3b 4 2 1 0 Shaffer rf 4 1 2 0

Witkowski c 4 2 3 1 Mahoney 3b 4 0 0 0

Donaldson dh 4 1 1 1 Konstanty lf 4 1 2 1

Enman lf 4 1 2 1 Seltzer 1b 4 0 0 1

Augustine 1b 4 0 1 2 Larson cf 4 1 2 1

Ortega ss 3 0 1 0 Spanjer-Furste dh 4 0 1 0

Kowalski rf 4 0 1 0 Johnson c 4 1 2 1

Totals 37 6 10 5 Totals 35 4 10 4

Little Falls (18-25) 204 000 000 — 6 10 0

Glens Falls (34-7) 010 011 001 — 4 10 1

E — Konstanty. DB — Little Falls 2. LOB — Little Falls 5, Golden Eagles 5. 2B — Augustine, Larson. HR — Konstanty, Larson, Johnson. SAC — Augustine.

IP H R ER BB SO

Little Falls

Seip, W (4-3) 7 9 3 3 1 6

Rossignol, S (4) 2 1 1 1 0 3

Glens Falls

Keiffer, L (4-3) 2.1 8 6 4 0 2

Denault 6.2 2 0 0 0 6

WP — Keiffer. PB — Johnson.

T — 2:22. A — 358.