SARATOGA SPRINGS— Willie Beard walked over to Ricky Ott and shook his hand.
"Congrats," Beard said.
"For what?" Ott asked. "For nearly blowing the game?"
Ott worked his way out of a bases loaded, one-out jam to save Beard and the rest of the Glens Falls Golden Eagles in their 4-2 win over the Saratoga Phillies (6-10) in a New York Collegiate Baseball League game Tuesday night at East Side Recreation Field.
"I just knew he would close the door," Beard said. "He struggled a little bit but I knew he would get it together."
"I was working mechanically trying to fix a couple of things," Ott said. "But when the bases became loaded, I was like, ‘You can’t work on the new stuff, you have to go back to what was working before.’"
After giving up a run in the eighth, Ott struck out one and got Saratoga’s Matt Carvutto to pop up to Anthony Giansanti at second base to end the inning.
Before the eighth-inning jam, Beard had successfully cooled down the Phillies’ bats over seven innings of work. The right-hander from Rutgers struck out nine, gave up five hits, one run and zero walks. Beard struck out at least one batter in six of the seven innings he pitched.
"Pretty much everything was working: fastball, curve, change," he said. "I could get my off-speed over for strikes pretty much whenever. Even when I was down in the count, I was pitching backwards to hitters and their team didn’t like that. They got frustrated."
Beard’s sharpness on the mound was somewhat of a surprise after three straight game cancellations, followed by a doubleheader on Sunday and another cancellation on Monday.
"It affects your preparation," Beard said. "You think you’re going to pitch one day, so you throw in the bullpen two days or the day before and then it gets pushed back. You can’t thrown the day its canceled because you don’t know if you’re going to pitch the next day."
The unexpected free time gave the players a chance to explore Glens Falls.
"I just went out and played putt-putt," Ott said.
The Eagles improve to 11-4 — the best record in the NYCBL. They’ve tied the season series with the Phillies at 3-3. Glens Falls travels to Albany to take on the Dutchmen tonight.
GLENS FALLS SARATOGA
ab r h rbi ab r h rbi
Phillips, ss 5 1 0 0 Dimino, cf 3 1 1 0
Giansanti, 2b 4 1 2 0 Silverstein, ss 4 0 1 0
Jones, lf 4 1 1 0 Fann, DH 3 0 0 0
Lashmet, 3b 5 0 1 1 Zeller, PR 0 0 0 0
Zumwalde, rf 4 1 3 1 Augustine, 1b 4 0 1 1
Lamont, 1b 3 0 0 0 Padgett, lf 4 1 1 0
DerHagopian, c 4 0 1 0 Carvutto, lf 4 0 1 0
Zavala, cf 3 1 1 1 Larsen, 2b 3 0 0 0
Valdez, dh 3 0 1 1 Sharrar, c 4 0 1 1
Player 0 0 0 0 Allaire, 3b 4 0 2 0
Pratt, ph 1 0 0 0
Totals 35 4 11 4 Totals 34 2 8 2
Glens Falls (11-4) 020 020 000 — 4
Saratoga (6-10) 010 000 010 — 2
DP — more copy. LOB — Glens Falls 9, Saratoga 7. 2B — Zumwalde, Zavala, Valdez, Phillips. 3B — Giansanti. SB — Dimino, Sharrar. CS — Carvutto, Giansanti, Lashmet.
IP H R ER BB SO
Glens Falls
Beard (2-0) 7 5 1 1 0 9
Ott 2 2 1 1 2 3
Saratoga
Hartman (0-2) 5 1/3 9 4 4 2 2
Oxley 1 2/3 1 0 0 1 1
Twining 2 1 0 0 0 4
Brennan 1 0 0 0 1 1
T — 2:39
