GLENS FALLS —For the first time in consecutive seasons, the Glens Falls Golden Eagles, coached by John Mayotte, will not be playing baseball in the New York Collegiate Baseball League Championship Series as they lost a 6-4 heartbreaker to the top-seeded Amsterdam Mohawks.
Seven times this season, the Golden Eagles were defeated by the Mohawks, with this loss being Glens Falls' fifth in a row, dating back to the 2009 NYCBL regular season and their second straight in the Eastern Division best-of-three game series.
Starting southpaw pitcher Chase Richard (Southern) retired the Amsterdam batting lineup in order in four of the first five innings, but the Mohawks managed to plate three runs on two hits in the fourth.
Richard tossed five innings, allowing two earned hits and four hits with three strikeouts and one walk.
Glens Falls failed to score runners early in the game after stranding runners on in scoring position in both the second and third innings.
Junior right fielder Anthony Giansanti (Siena), playing in his second year as a member of the Golden Eagles, doubled to left in the third sending freshman left fielder Rodarrick Jones (New Orleans), who reached base via a fielding error, to third base.
Freshman shortstop Eric Phillips (Georgia Southern), who made a diving catch to rob fellow shortstop Tony Patane (Maine) of an extra base hit in the fifth, secured the Golden Eagles first hit of the game with a single up the middle.
Junior designated hitter Mike Ferraro (San Diego) reached base via an Amsterdam fielding error and both Phillips and Ferraro advanced into scoring position on a passed ball.
Back-to-back-to-back one-out base hits from the bottom of the Glens Falls batting order opened the fourth for the Golden Eagles, with Ferraro scoring his third run this postseason on a wild pitch.
Ferraro played in five regular season games, as well as all five postseason games. *
Sophomore first basemen Sean Lamont (Georgetown), who left the game in the fifth with a leg injury, scored on a sacrifice fly to deep right by freshman catcher Conner Gandossy (St. Louis) to put Glens Falls within one run at 3-2.
A leadoff double from sophomore first basemen Austin Sheffield (Manhattan) in the sixth inning helped pad the Mohawks lead to 4-2 when he scored on a sac fly from freshman shortstop Joe Sclafani (Dartmouth).
Entering the game in the sixth, junior left-hander Jamie Storey (Houston Baptist) pitched four innings, allowing zero earned runs on two hits with four strikeouts and one walk.
After beaming the first batter of the inning and striking out the next two, Storey, playing in his second year as a member of the Glens Falls Golden Eagles, allowed a single and hit another batter before working out of a bases loaded jam.
As they did all throughout the regular season, the Glens Falls offensive strung together another two-out run-scoring rally. A clutch single from freshman center fielder Steve Zavala (Rutgers), who walked in the first, set the table for Jones.
Jones jacked a two-run homerun to tie the game 4-4 heading toward the eighth inning.
Despite Gandossy throwing out all three runners at first base on all three of Richard's strikeouts, he could not throw out Sheffield, who led off the eighth inning with a strikeout, and reached first safely.
A single to right from freshman outfielder Mel Rojas Jr. (Wabash Valley C.C.) put runners at the corners with only one out.
Pitch-hitter Tillman Pugh (Gateway C.C.) then drove a deep fly ball right, reaching base on a fielding error, scoring Sheffield on the play and putting the Mohawks back on top 5-4. Amsterdam added an insurance run on a fielder's choice from freshman catcher Matt Colantonio (Brown).
Still searching for his first hit of the 2009 postseason, Gandossy stepped to the plate and worked a two-out walk, his second of the postseason, to keep the season alive for the Golden Eagles, at least for more batter.
Zavala then nearly beat out a grounder for an infield single, but his out ended the game and the season for the 2009 Glens Falls Golden Eagles.
Glens Falls out-hit Amsterdam 7-6; however, not one Golden Eagles’ hitter had a multi-hit game.
Amsterdam plays the Hornell Dodgers in the 2009 NYCBL Championships on Friday, Aug. 7.
* NYCBL stats do not include Glens Falls Golden Eagles doubleheader against Saratoga Phillies on July 23.