Eagles Overcome Early Deficit to Earn Victory

Glens Falls Golden Eagles

June 14, 2011

Andrew Nadler

Glens Falls, NY - On what became a beautiful night for baseball and the fireworks that followed at East Field, the Glens Falls Golden Eagles overcame an early three run deficit with a massive five-run third inning to earn the team’s third win of the season Tuesday evening. Supplying the run-support for winning pitcher Max MacNabb’s (San Diego) first win of the season in front of a nearly 500-person crowd were Roger Bernal (Texas Pan American) (2), Josh Anderson (Yavapai) (2), Ricky Claudio (St. Thomas), and Zac Hawkins (LSU-Enice).

Falling behind early as the game began, MacNabb yielded a solo homerun to Elmira’s RF David Bishop who would later go on to hit another towering homerun to right in the sixth. Adding to Elmira’s lead in the top of the third, 2B Justin Lamborn hit the second of the Pioneers’ three homeruns to score CF Geoff Jimenez resulting in a 3-0 lead for Elmira.

Despite the quick runs by the Pioneers, Glens Falls’ CF Kyle Ruchim (Northwestern) led off the bottom of the third with a well-placed bunt off Elmira SP John Koch to jumpstart the Golden Eagle offense. Ruchim’s bunt was followed by a single from C Daniel Klein (Kansas St.) and a walk from LF John Rooney (Siena), setting up a bases-loaded situation for Golden Eagles 2B Roger Bernal. With the pressure on, Bernal came through with a clutch 2 RBI single to score the first of what would be a game total six Glens Falls runs. Rounding out the scoring in the third was Claudio with an RBI double, Anderson with an RBI groundout, and Hawkins with an RBI single putting Glens Falls ahead 5-3.

After taking the lead at the end of the third, the Golden Eagles would stay ahead for the duration of the game earning MacNabb the win. MacNabb pitched through five innings yielding three runs while striking out seven Pioneer batters.

While the Pioneers would score again off a second Bishop homerun to begin the sixth inning and cut the lead to a single run at 5-4, Golden Eagles relievers Chris Myers (Georgia Southern) and Ruchim (positional change from CF) would hold Elmira scoreless for the remainder of the game while compiling seven strikeouts between the pair.

MacNabb earns his first win of the season while Koch takes the loss for the Pioneers. Ruchim held off the Pioneer batters over the last two innings to earn the save for the Golden Eagles who now stand at 3-1 overall and a perfect 3-0 at home. Elmira drops to 2-2 in the PGCBL and will face the Amsterdam Mohawks this evening.

The Golden Eagles are away today at Cooperstown and will home again this Friday as the team hosts Albany for TD Bank Night at 7pm.

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