Pitching Proves Pivotal

Despite rainouts in their last two home games, finally Golden Eagles fans have something to cheer about on the field.

Of the 14 teams in the New York Collegiate Baseball League, Glens Falls reigns supreme over the rest.

With nearly three weeks of summer collegiate wood-bat baseball in upstate New York now in the books, the Golden Eagles rank 25 in Perfect Game Cross Checker’s national poll of summer collegiate baseball teams.

Not only do the Golden Eagles 9-3 overall win-loss record earn them the league’s best record by three games in the East Division over the Amsterdam Mohawks, a team they’ve once already this season, and a two-game lead over the West Division’s top team, the 7-3 Webster Yankees, but they also have played the most games than any other team in the NYCBL and experienced the most game cancellations.

After a slow 2-2 start to the 2009 season, Glens Falls Golden Eagles head coach John Mayotte, whose team currently sports a three-game winning streak, and his staff worry this recent string of rain-outs and other game cancellations may disrupt the teams’ momentum and routine heading into next week.

“That’s probably your worst nightmare,” head coach John Mayotte said. “When you’re playing well, you want to play every day. We’ve been playing well; we want to go down to the ballpark.”

This week, Glens Falls had half of their games called due to rain (Watertown and Saratoga) or cancelled due to technical difficulties (Mohawk Valley). Both rainouts were at home. A blown transformer cancelled  the Golden Eagles game against the Diamond Dawgs on Saturday.

“I don’t think one day sets you back, but more than one does,” said Mayotte, who added that sometimes during rainy stretches the team will try to get some practice time inside the dome at Adirondack Sports Complex to keep the players limber.

Practice they did. Hours after the game against Saratoga had been called, the Golden Eagles held practice inside the dome complex, as well as practicing at East field on Saturday and resting with a day off on Thursday.

Tomorrow, the team makes up the Saratoga rainout game as they host the Phillies in a doubleheader, the first for the Golden Eagles this season.

Monday, June 22, the Golden Eagles play Watertown Wizards in a makeup game from the Thursday rainout. The game starts at 7 p.m. and the first 250 fans in attendance receive a free pair of Glens Falls Golden Eagles Thunderstix.

Despite winning and seven of their last eight games, the Golden Eagles have struggled somewhat at East Field this season. Of their three losses, the Golden Eagles have lost two of five games in front of the Glens Falls’ faithful.

Though their pitching, which has been tops in the league for the past couple seasons, continues to be a team strong point.

Now entering their third seasons with Glens Falls, pitching coach Brett Merritt (New Mexico Military Institute), and bullpen coach Dan Kelly (S.C.C.C), in addition to first-year assistant pitching coach Jon McLain (Troy State) and assistant coach Andy Judkins (Minnesota State) have all worked well with both the bullpen pitchers and the starters this season.

The entire coaching staff has done a tremendous job, given the number of games the and innings-pitched the team’s worked and the long layoff between games this week. It will interesting to see how well all the pitchers perform in their next trip to the rubber, and whether they can keep rolling for the entire summer season.

The Golden Eagles pitching staff tossed one shutout so far this season when junior righty Nathan Forer (Southern Illinois), who leads the team with three wins and a 0.49 ERA, wowed Phillies hitters for eight innings.

In two appearances this season, freshman southpaw Daniel Watts (Jacksonville State) stands tied for the league lead in ERA, pitching over 10 innings and allowing zero earned runs.

Juniors Kellen Candau (Southern Illinois), a righty reliever whose’ four appearances tops all Glens Falls pitchers, and southpaw Jamie Storey (Houston Baptist), who’s been with the Golden Eagles for two seasons, each picked up saves in six combined appearances and almost 10 combined innings.

The only Golden Eagle to start in both his appearances, freshman right-hander Tony Dischler (U.L.M) leads the team in strikeouts (13), while fellow freshman lefty Ricky Ott (New Orleans) has the teams’ third save.

For Glens Falls this season, sophomore Andrew Brown (Akron) has given up the fewest hits (6) and lowest opponents batting average (.154), while Jerry A’Hearn (Central Arizona) has walked the fewest batters (1). In addition to A’Hearn, both sophomore righties WIllie Beard (Rutgers) and Alex Frederick (Clemson) each sport perfect 1-0 win-loss records with lefty Chase Richard (Southern) post two wins and zero losses.

As a team, Glens Falls ranks second in the NYCBL with a 2.25 ERA in 112.2 innings-pitched. Only the Webster Yankees have a better ERA, while the Watertown Wizards have pitched more innings. Third in the league with 80-plus strikeouts and second with three total saves, Glens Falls pitchers have allowed their opponents’ batting average to push .230, which is about .30 percent below their offensive overall batting average. Golden Eagle hitters have worked 43 walks this season, while the pitchers have walked 39 batters.