By Bob Rotruck

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Dylan Smith (Auburn) came charging home in the bottom of the ninth
inning on a passed ball against Glens Falls catcher Jimmy Smith (St.
Peter's) as the Amsterdam Mohawks prevailed 7-6 over the Golden Eagles
on Wednesday night at Shuttleworth Park. The win extends Amsterdam's
win streak to four straight and pulls them to within one game of
first-place Glens Falls and Albany who are tied for the top spot in
the East Division.

It is the third walk-off win for Amsterdam and the second one
involving Dylan Smith in less than a week. Last Thursday, Smith
brought home the winning run with a single to left in the bottom of
the 11th against Albany in the resumption of a suspended game.

Rich Vrana (Marist) spun a perfect ninth inning to get the win
improving to 4-0. Two of his wins have come against Glens Falls and
are the only victories Amsterdam has this season against the Golden
Eagles.

Kyle Barrett had a big game (Kentucky) going 4-for-4 with three stolen
bases, one RBI, a run scored, and a walk.

For Glens Falls, Raphael Gladu (College Lafleche) went 2-for-5 with a
double, 3 RBIs and a run scored.

Raphael Gladu and Buddy Putnam (South Florida) socked two-run doubles
in the seventh inning in a late Golden Eagles comeback. Amsterdam led
6-2 after six innings but the Glens Falls four-run rally in the
seventh evened the count at 6-6. For Putnam, it was his 12th double of
the season moving him into second in the league and his 27th and 28th
RBIs moved him up to a tie for second in the league in that department
as well.

Amsterdam raced out to a 4-0 lead in the first three innings including
a sac-fly in the first by Dylan Smith, back-to-back RBI singles in the
second by Kyle Barrett (Kenutcky) and Jordan Ebert (Auburn) to make it
3-0, and an RBi single in the third inning by Brian Ruby (Binghamton)
stretching the lead to 4-0.

In the meantime, Amsterdam starter Dylan Dwyer (Kentucky) was off to a
strong start with four innings of no-hit pitching before Glens Falls
finally got to him in the fifth for a couple of runs via RBI hits by
Blake Sydesk (South Florida) and Gladu cutting the margin to 4-2.

John Nogowski's two-run double in the sixth pushed the lead to 6-2
before Glens Falls would put together the four-run rally in the
seventh on the doubles by Gladu and Putnam.

Dylan Smith drew a walk with one out in the ninth and then stole
second and smartly and quickly advanced to third when the throw
bounced off of Smith and into left field.

Zack Merciez (Missouri State) was one strike away from getting the
game to extra innings with John Sansone at the plate for Amsterdam
when his fastball went right through the legs of Jimmy Smith for the
game-ending passed ball.

Glens Falls dropped a decision at Shuttleworth Park for the first time
in four trips this season as Amsterdam improved to 2-4 against their
Perfect Game Collegiate Baseball League East Division rivals. The
Golden Eagles now stand at 20-13 and are tied for first with the
Albany Dutchmen who are also 20-13 after splitting a doubleheader at
Adirondack on Wednesday night.

The Amsterdam Mohawks now stand at 20-15 to trail both teams by one
game. And the Mohawk Valley Diamond Dawgs are just a half-game behind
Amsterdam and only 1.5 games off the division pace in the heated
battle for the three playoff spots as well as the first-place bye.

Amsterdam has the day off Thursday and returns to Shuttleworth Park
Friday night at 7:05 against the West Division leading Watertown Rams
with 6'7" righthander Trey Wingenter (Auburn) starting for the
Mohawks.

Glens Falls hits the road Thursday evening for a 5:00 encounter at
Doubleday Field against the Cooperstown Hawkeyes in the lone game of
the day in the PGCBL. Glens Falls returns to East Field Friday night
against the Elmira Pioneers.

Notes:
- The Amsterdam Mohawks have played 35 games and have 13 remaining in
the regular season.

- Amsterdam and Glens Falls meet one more time this year. The two
rivals will battle in a doubleheader at East Field in Glens Falls on
Saturday, July 27 at 5:00.



GF - 000 020 400 - 6 8 3 (6)
AM - 121 002 001 - 7 10 2 (6)

W - Rich Vrana (4-0)
L - Zack Merciez (0-3)
S - None

HR -
None

Doubles -
GF - Rphael Gladu, Buddy Putnam
AM - John Nogowski

Time - 3:25
ATT - 811

Records -
Glens Falls Golden Eagles: 20-13
Amsterdam Mohawks: 20-15

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