By Cody Marshall-Sultan of Sports

GALWAY–For the first time in two years, the Galway varsity baseball team hosted a senior game. After being a completely underclassmen team last year, seven seniors were honored before yesterday’s game against Canajoharie. Nick Manna was given the start on the mound for the Golden Eagles, while Joe Horning started on the hill for the Cougars.

Adam Berlin, a senior shortstop, will be moving on to attend Hudson Valley Community College to study business administration. This is his third year playing varsity baseball.

Nick Manna, a senior pitcher, third baseman, and first baseman, will be attending SUNY Oswego in the fall where he plans to major in business administration. Manna is currently in his second year on varsity.

Paul Wojcik, the senior right fielder, has made his plans to become a Raider as he will be attending Fulton-Montgomery Community College next fall. Wojcik rounds out the triumvirate of Golden Eagles who will be majoring in business administration. This is Paul’s second year on varsity.

Cody Marshall, a senior second baseman, pitcher, first baseman, and third baseman, will be attending Franklin Pierce University in the fall where he plans to major in mass communication, with a minor in mathematics. The future Raven plans to play baseball in Rindge once his second year of varsity is completed. Cody is the only senior on the team who plans to attend school outside of New York in the upcoming fall semester.

Shane Marshall, the senior catcher, will be attending the University at Albany, where he will major in criminal justice. The Golden Eagles backstop who has thrown out three base stealers in the past two games is currently in his second year of varsity baseball. He looks to join the Great Danes roster in the fall.

Kyle Collins, a senior second baseman, shortstop, and pitcher, will travel north to Potsdam, where he will attend Clarkson University. Currently, in his fourth year of varsity baseball, Collins looks to join the Golden Knights roster next season with the hopes of bringing them a Liberty League title. Collins was named a WAC North all-star last season, and could be one again this year.

Ron Lewis, a senior outfielder, will be attending Schenectady County Community College in the fall. Lewis plans to major in health studies. This is Ron’s first season on varsity and his speed on the bases has been a big factor for the Golden Eagles. Ron has expressed interest in playing baseball for the Royals next season.

The game itself was close as anticipated. In the top of the first, the Cougars put themselves up early when Joe Horning helped his own cause, depositing a Nick Manna fastball over the left-center field fence to put the Cougars up 2-0. In the bottom half, the Golden Eagles were held scoreless after getting a runner as far as third.

The Cougars added another run in the second when Joe Horning managed to stay in a rundown long enough to allow the runner on third to score, then was ruled safe at first when the umpire said that Kyle Collins had missed the tag when chasing Horning back to third, just one of a few questionable calls on the day.

Galway would finally get on the board in the fourth. Kyle Collins led off the inning with a walk, followed by a single by Nick Manna that allowed Collins to go first to third. With nobody out, Cody Marshall stepped up and lined one to center. Ryan Hodge was there to make the catch, but the throw home was not in time to get Collins at the plate as Marshall picked up his 20th RBI on the season and made it a 3-1 ballgame.

Canajoharie would strike for two more runs in the fifth inning when a few misplayed balls in the outfield allowed the Cougars to tack on. However, Galway battled back in the bottom half to close the gap. With one out and the bases loaded, Nick Manna roped a double into the left center field gap to clear the bases and make it a 5-4 contest. Cody Marshall stepped up and followed with a deep fly to the same gap, but Ryan Hodge made a great catch while colliding with his teammate to keep the Cougars on top.

The Cougars would add two more in the sixth when a wild pitch by reliever Cody Marshall allowed a run to score and then an RBI single brought in another run for the visitors. In the seventh, Horning managed to keep the Golden Eagles from getting a runner to third to pick up the win. The loss was charged to Nick Manna (1-2).

The loss drops the Golden Eagles to 8-7 overall and 7-5 in the WAC. Meanwhile, the Cougars move to 6-8 overall and 6-5 in the WAC. With a win over Middleburgh, Canajoharie would be sitting in third place in the North heading into the crossover games on Tuesday.The Golden Eagles will look to use their crossover games to improve their league record before the Sectional Seeding Meeting on the 21st.