By Cody Marshall-Sultan of Sports

BROADALBIN–Over vacation, the varsity baseball team was still looking for their first win of the season. After dropping a 5-3 game to Stillwater at home on Tuesday, the Golden Eagles were still looking for win number one. On Friday, Galway traveled to Broadalbin-Perth where they would do battle in a non-league contest with the Patriots. Opposing the Golden Eagles were former Galway students Tim Gordon and Anthony Visco.

Visco was given the start on the mound for the Patriots and worked two innings of no-hit ball before the Patriots brought in Matt Myers. The Patriots struck first in the third inning when an unearned run put them up 1-0. That lead would vanish quickly as Nick Manna would come around to score on an error by B-P thrid baseman Joe Zarecki off the bat of Frank Schwab, tying the game at 1-1. However, the Patriots would get the lead back in the bottom half when Tim Gordon cleared the bases with a triple to the right-center field gap, scoring Myers and Anthony Payne. The Patriots would hold the 3-1 advantage through the 5th inning. In the 6th, the Golden Eagles managed to load the bases on walks and one player being hit by a pitch. With the bases loaded and a 2-2 count, Joe Zarecki hit Frank Schwab with a pitch, bringing in Nick Manna and making it a 3-2 ball game. The Golden Eagles would strand the bases loaded, but managed to hold the Patriots in the bottom half of the inning.

In the 7th, Broadalbin-Perth brought in RJ Pingitore to close the game, but the Golden Eagles had other plans. Shane Marshall lead off the inning with a walk, followed by an Adam Berlin double to left field. After striking out Kyle Collins for the first out, the Patriots had a meeting on the mound and decided to intentionally walk Nick Manna and pitch to Cody Marshall. The plan looked as though it would pay off when Marshall hit a ground ball to second base, but Matt Myers couldn’t handle the ball cleanly, allowing all runners to reach safely, scoring Shane Marshall to tie the game at 3. The Patriots managed to strike out Evan Ceroalo for out number two, and looked as though they’d get out of the inning with a 3-3 tie. However, Frank Schwab was not to be denied today. With two strikes, Schwab hit a hard line drive, that hit off the mound and got through into center field. Berlin and Manna both came around to score on the play and the Golden Eagles took a 5-3 lead.

In the bottom half, the first two batters managed to reach before Kyle Collins struck out the final three hitters to seal the deal and pick up the win on the mound. Evan Ceroalo started on the mound, but received a no decision on the day. Ceroalo allowed just 5 hits in 3.2 innings of work, struck out 4 and walked just 2. Collins allowed 4 hits, no runs, and struck out 5 to close it out. The loss was handed to RJ Pingitore, as well as a blown save.

RBIs were recorded by Frank Schwab, who had 3, and Cody Marshall.

Nick Manna went 2-for-3 with three runs scored in the winning effort.

The Golden Eagles (1-3, 0-1 WAC) are back on the diamond on Monday when they travel to Duanesburg to battle the Eagles in a WAC matchup. The Golden Eagles currently stand in 4th in the North Division, while Duanesburg (0-5, 0-1 WAC) looks to pick up it’s first win. First pitch is set to be thrown at 4:30pm. For more info on this game, check out bp-baseball.com.