ALBANY—The first place Glens Falls Golden Eagles (18-6) traveled to Bleecker Stadium for a showdown with the last place Albany Dutchmen (5-13) on Wednesday night.
The Golden Eagles', who had been coming off a 7-2 loss to the Amsterdam Mohawks and had defeated an Albany team, who had been coming off a 13-7 victory over the Saratoga Phillies in their last game, in all five of the two teams' match-ups this season, bats exploded for four total homeruns en-route to an 8-2 win.
By games' end, Glens Falls tallied their eight runs on nine hits, compared to two runs on five hits for Albany. The Golden Eagles did, however, commit three errors for the second straight game.
As a team, Glens Falls now stands tied for the New York Collegiate Baseball League lead in homeruns with 13 this summer. The third-place Mohawk Valley Diamonddawgs, who also have hit 13 homeruns this season, will play a doubleheader against the Golden Eagles beginning Friday at 5 p.m.
The homeruns started early, when in the first inning, with junior outfielder Anthony Giansanti blasting a solo shot to left and putting Glens Falls on top 1-0. Giansanti added two stolen bases in the third inning and has been thrown out just once in nine attempts this season.
Giansanti finished 3-for-4 with three singles, one RBI, two runs scored and now leads the NYCBL in runs scored with 22. Last season, splitting time between reliever and outfielder, Giansanti scored just five runs in 18 games.
Though the Dutchmen tied the game at 1-1 with back-to-back doubles from Kyle Wong (Cal Poly) and Blake Gibbs (Oregon State) and had visions of handing the Golden Eagles their first losing streak of the 2009 season, the middle of the Glens Falls batting order hit back-to-back-to-back-to-back homeruns, albeit in separate innings, and had the Dutchmen chasing rainbows the rest of the game.
First, Giansanti singled to lead off the sixth and then the team-leader in homeruns, freshmen Rodarrick Jones (New Orleans), belted his third dinger of the season followed immediately by the cleanup hitter, sophomore Sean Lamont (Georgetown), who hit his second homerun in as many games and handed the Golden Eagles a manageable 4-2 lead.
A two-out, solo homerun from freshman infielder Eric Phillips (Georgia Southern) in the eighth quickly gave the Golden Eagles a four-run lead. Giansanti and his college teammate Gary DerHagopian (Siena), who had the game off, in addition to Phillips and Lamont, all have hit two homeruns apiece this summer for the now 19-6 Glens Falls Golden Eagles.
A two-run RBI double from freshman Steve Zavala (Rutgers) in the ninth, which scored pinch-runner Pepito Moreno (Pima C.C.) and catcher Conner Gandossy (St. Louis), increased the Glens Falls lead to a commanding 7-2 deficit.
Zavala ranks second on the team, tied with Lamont and behind Jones' seven, in doubles with six this summer. A sacrifice fly from Jones later scored Zavala after he advanced to third via his sixth stolen base of the season.
Sophomore pitcher Willie Beard (Rutgers) picked up his third win in four starts and now holds a perfect 3-0 win-loss record this season. Beard pitched seven strong innings, allowing only one earned run on four hits, and walking just two Dutchmen batters.
His eight strikeouts against the Dutchmen tonight gives him 20 this summer. Freshman southpaw Ricky Ott (New Orleans), tying junior Kellen Candau (Southern Illinois) for most appearances (6) as a Golden Eagles this summer, tossed two scoreless relief innings, allowing zero earned runs on one hit.
Glens Falls returns to East Field for three games this weekend, including two games against the Amsterdam Mohawks on Saturday and Sunday. Glens Falls has not played at home yet this July and holds a 7-3 at East Field in June, with 11 more scheduled home games to go until the playoffs.
The Golden Eagles will be giving away free 2009 Glens Falls Golden Eagles baseball cards to the first 250 fans on Saturday. Sunday's July 12 game, which starts at 4 p.m., will be free haircut night