This is the fourth part in a multiple-part series detailing the great stories from the 2007 New York Collegiate Baseball League season. This is the second year of the great stories series, we hope you enjoy it. If you would like to contribute your ideas, please e-mail me at SaltCitySports@aol.com.

Part IV: 34-6, 101
The numbers above represent several milestones in the New York Collegiate Baseball League that might never be broken. The numbers above refer to the 2007 Glens Falls Golden Eagles and manager John Mayotte. The team finished the 42-game regular season with a record of 34-6 (two games were unable to be made up) and an .850 winning percentage. Manager John Mayotte, the only field general in the franchise's four seasons, earned his 100th NYCBL victory in late July when the Golden Eagles swept the Bennington Bombers in a doubleheader at East Field. The team won the Eastern Division regular season title going away and took the Eastern Division playoff crown but ran out of gas in the NYCBL Championship Series against Elmira, falling two games to none.

But really, the magic of the regular season cannot be outdone. Glens Falls' .850 winning percentage is the highest in the modern era (2000-present) of the New York Collegiate Baseball League and very well could be the highest in league history. The 34 regular season victories also ties a modern-day league record. Hornell won 34 regular season games in 2005, but the Dodgers also played a 47-game regular season and were able to have an outcome to all of their games. Going back to 2000, the closest a team comes to the .850 winning percentage is the 2004 Glens Falls Golden Eagles. The 2004 Green and Gold went 31-10 and garnered a .756 winning percentage. In a 40 or 42-game regular season, Glens Falls' 31 wins in 2004 and Amsterdam's 31 wins in 2003 were the league high until 2007.

The .850 winning percentage was also the highest among the 71 teams affiliated with the National Alliance of College Summer Baseball (NACSB). That spans several leagues including the Cape Cod Baseball League, Valley Baseball League, Great Lakes Summer Collegiate League, Central Illinois Collegiate League, Florida Collegiate Baseball League, Atlantic Collegiate Baseball League and the Southern Collegiate Baseball League.

And then there's John Mayotte. He's been the manager in Glens Falls since the team took the field for its inaugural season in 2004. In four regular seasons, he's 101-67 (.601). During his tenure, the Golden Eagles have two Eastern Division regular season titles, one Eastern Division playoff title and twice won 30 or more games during the regular season. Last summer, 14 of his former players in the NYCBL were playing professional baseball. Coach Mayotte's win total will only continue to rise, because he is returning to Glens Falls for the 2008 season.

The Golden Eagles may have had the best pitching staff in the league last season with postseason all-stars Brian Moran (North Carolina) and Tom Meagher (St. Petersburg) along with All-Star game selection Barry Kieffer (Midland/Louisiana-Monroe) and stingy starters Mike Wanamaker (St. Petersburg/Penn State), Alex Pepe (Florida Atlantic) and Scott Denault (San Diego). That group combined to go 26-5 with Moran, Meagher and Denault all recording five wins.

Offense wasn't a problem either with NYCBL first-team selections Kevin Mahoney (Canisius), Dan DeGeorge (Princeton) and Jake Shaffer (Northern Kentucky). Mahoney was a multi-time selection for NYCBL Eastern Division Player of the Week and he led the league with seven home runs and 44 RBI. DeGeorge was a consistent threat with the bat and a good contact hitter with a team-high 54 hits. Shaffer was the quiet one of the Golden Eagles "Big Three" but did just as much damage with 21 RBI and a Bob Bellizzi Big Stick Award for his performance at the NYCBL All-Star Game.

Mike Konstanty (Albany), Jake Owens (Northwestern), Joe Mercurio (Illinois/Maine) and Rick Seltzer (Siena) made solid offensive contributions as well. All four stepped up offensively when several key players went down for the summer including Luis Feliz (Rutgers) and Mark Kelly (Southern Illinois).

One of the more remarkable aspects of the Golden Eagles season was that they were 19-1 away from East Field. The only road loss the team suffered was to North Way rival Saratoga, 2-1, at East Side Rec on July 2. At East Field, the Green and Gold were 15-5 with losses coming to Watertown (twice), Saratoga (twice) and Amsterdam once. Glens Falls won two of its three road playoff games as well, but dropped three of five home games, one in each round.

The streak with Glens Falls was always popular as they never lost back-to-back games until the NYCBL Championship Series. The season included winning streaks of nine games, eight games, five games and four games (twice). Glens Falls led the league in team earned run average (2.42) and finished second in team batting average to Hornell by a thousandth of a point (.274 to .273).

Will another team break the precedents set by the 2007 Glens Falls Golden Eagles? It's highly unlikely, especially with the nature of summer college baseball and different rosters every season. It was certainly a season for the ages. Can the Golden Eagles repeat in the Eastern Division with Coach Mayotte at the helm again in 2008? Here's some food for thought. In the two seasons that the NYCBL has had no inter-division play (2004, 2007), Glens Falls has gone 65-16 and won two regular season division titles.

Coming up next, Part V: The Number 27