AMSTERDAM—Despite leading the game 3-1 heading into the bottom of the ninth, the first-place Glens Falls Golden Eagles dropped a heartbreaking 5-3 defeat to the second-place Amsterdam Mohawks, allowing four runs on four hits in the games' final inning.
With the loss, the Golden Eagles' win-loss record falls to 24-8, while the Mohawks improve their overall record to 20-11 in the 2009 New York Collegiate Baseball League summer season. With the win, Amsterdam moves to three and one-half games of first-place Glens Falls.
The two teams play again on Tuesday, July 21, at Shuttleworth Park in Amsterdam, and Saturday, July 25 at East Field in Glens Falls. Saturday's game starts at 1 p.m. Both Amsterdam and Glens Falls have split the six-game season series this summer.
A leadoff double from freshman center fielder Steve Zavala (Rutgers), his team-leading eighth this summer, had the Golden Eagles in business early. Zavala later scored on a RBI single from junior right fielder Anthony Giansanti (Siena), giving Glens Falls a 1-0 lead after one inning.
Giansanti worked a walk, his 17th this season, to leadoff the fourth inning for the Golden Eagles and later scored on a RBI sacrifice from freshman Eric Phillips (Georgia Southern) to hand Glens Falls a 2-1 lead.
Sophomore first basemen Sean Lamont (Georgetown) led off the fifth with a solo shot, his third homerun this summer, that gave the Golden Eagles a 3-1 lead.
Glens Falls threatened to bust the game wide open in the seventh, with walks from freshman infielders Pepito Moreno (Pima C.C.) and Kevin Berry (New Orleans) and a single from junior outfielder Mike Ferraro (San Diego), his second hit in two straight games, but failed to score.
Moreno stole his fourth base this season in the seventh inning.
By games' end, the Golden Eagles tallied five hits, two coming from Giansanti and one from Zavala, Lamont, and Ferraro. Giansanti, Phillips, and Lamont each added one RBI, while Zavala, Giansanti, and Lamont each scored one run.
Starting in just his second game this summer, freshman southpaw Daniel Watts (Jacksonville State), the team-leader in ERA (0.49), pitched five innings of two-hit ball, allowing one run and two walks.
Appearing in relief for the first time this summer, freshman righty Tony Dischler (University of Louisiana Monroe) lasted three innings and allowed two runs on hits.
Junior right-hander Kellen Candau (Southern Illinois) recorded one out in the ninth before the Mohawks ended the game via a three-run walk-off homerun. Both of Candau's two losses this season have been on the road and have ended in the ninth inning, though he did pick up his first win in his previous appearance when he pitched two scoreless and hitless innings in a 13th inning game against the Mohawk Valley Diamonddawgs back on July 15 in Little Falls.