GLENS FALLS - His teammates let Anthony Giansanti go home Friday
night without swallowing half a can of shaving cream.
There was no repeat of Thursday night's celebratory shaving cream
pie in the face.
"Thank God," Giansanti said.
But there very well could have been. For the second straight night
the Glens Falls center fielder showed why the Oakland Athletics
selected him in Thursday's Major League Baseball draft.
Giansanti's two-run home run, part of a 3-for-4 night, was the
key blow in Glens Falls' 7-4 victory over Mohawk Valley in a New
York Collegiate Baseball League game in front of 532 at East Field.
In his last two games, Giansanti, a Siena product, is 5-for-6 with a
double and the second inning home run that gave the Golden Eagles a
5-1 lead.
"I'm locked in," Giansanti said. "I know I have a
lot to prove to people. Forty-ninth round is the 49th round, and I
know a lot of people look at that as a low-round pick. But I'm out
here to prove that I do belong with a wood bat in my hand."
Golden Eagles coach John Mayotte said he's noticed a difference in
Giansanti's approach at the plate the past few games.
"Anthony stayed within himself..." Mayotte said.
"Earlier in the season I thought maybe he was trying to hit the
ball a little too far, and I think he's turned the corner
there."
Giansanti said it was a conscious decision to focus on hitting line
drives and aiming for the gaps. Playing with a metal bat at Siena he
could gear up and look to hit home runs despite his 6-foot,
180-pound frame.
In the wood bat NYCBL, that won't cut it.
"Here, it's a different ball game," Giansanti said.
"I'm not that type of player. I know the A's didn't draft me as
a power hitter. They drafted me as a scrappy player who's going to
run the bases well and put the ball in play. And that's what I'm
going to try to evolve my game into."
Giansanti isn't the only Golden Eagle locked in. After starting the
season 2-2, Glens Falls has won four in a row to take the Eastern
Division lead.
They've been hot at the top of the order, where Rodarrick Jones,
hitting behind Giansanti in the three-hole, is 4-for-7 with two RBIs
and three runs scored in the last two games.
The pitching has also been stellar. After shutting out Saratoga on
Thursday, Golden Eagles' pitchers allowed just two earned runs on
Friday.
"Our pitching depth and versatility has been excellent,"
Mayotte said. "I think it's going to be the strength of the
team."
Starter Jerry A'Hearn of Central Arizona gave up one run on seven
hits in five innings.
Between A'Hearn and relievers Jamie Storey and Kellen Candau, they
stranded 12 Mohawk Valley runners, including leaving the bases
loaded three times.
"In this game you're going to have three or four chances to
drive in runs and whether you succeed or fail is between whether you
win or lose," Mayotte said. "And that's basically what it
came down to today."
It ended up coming down to a shakier situation than the Golden
Eagles could have expected after heading into the ninth inning with
a 7-2 lead. But an error, an infield single, and a sacrifice fly
made it 7-4. A walk and another error, and suddenly, the go ahead
run came to the plate for Mohawk Valley.
Candau relieved Storey, facing one batter, and getting him to ground
into a game-ending fielder's choice.
Coach Mayotte preaches don't get complacent," Giansanti said.
"And I think we got a little complacent tonight. We kind of
just lost our focus... because we've been winning some games."
The Eagles, who are 4-0 on the road, travel to Watertown today and
are at Albany on Sunday.
MOHAWK VALLEY GLENS FALLS
ab r h bi ab r h bi
Hall, cf 4 2 0 0 Moreno, ss 4 1 0 0
Nickel, ss 3 1 2 0 Giansanti, cf 4 2 3 2
Nugent, c 4 0 2 0 Jones, lf 4 1 2 1
Ross, dh 4 0 1 0 Lamont, 3b 4 0 1 1
Brito, 1b 4 1 2 2 Zumwalde, rf 4 0 1 1
Soltis, 3b 5 0 2 0 Phillips, 1b 4 0 0 0
Kelley, lf 3 0 0 0 Berry, 2b 4 0 1 0
Keen, rf 5 0 0 0 Gandossy, c 3 2 1 0
Gavlik, 2b 4 0 2 1 Valdez, dh 3 1 1 1
Totals 36 4 11 3 Totals 34 7 10 5
Diamond Dawgs (1-5) 010 000 102 -- 4
Golden Eagles (6-2) 230 200 00x -- 7
E -- Soltis, Moreno, Zumwalde. DP -- Mohawk Valley. LOB -- Mohawk
Valley 12, Glens Falls 4. 2B -- Gandossy. HR -- Giansanti. SB --
Gandossy. SF -- Brito. CS -- Nickel.
IP H R ER BB SO
Mohawk Valley
Goemans, L 3 2/3 9 7 4 1 2
DeGrouttola 4 1/3 1 0 0 0 5
Glens Falls
A'Hearn, W 5 7 1 1 2 5
Storey 3 2/3 4 3 1 4 4
Candau, S. 1/3 0 0 0 0 0
PB -- Gandossy.
T -- 2:45. A -- 523.