Glens Falls, NY-Both the Glens Falls Dragons and the Amsterdam Mohawks entered Friday night's game at East Field searching for their first win of the season. The Mohawks took the early lead, but Glens Falls rallied in the ninth to grab the win in their home opener.
Amsterdam took the 1-0 lead in the top of the second. Johnny Malatesta (NJIT) singled to left field and came around to score on a Tyler Ungerland (St. Rose) fly out to center field.
Glens Falls tied the game in the bottom of the inning. Griffin Neuer (Bellarmine) drew a one out walk, advanced to second on a ground out and stole third. Josh Hoagland (Oswego State) then smacked a double over the left fielder's head to plate Neuer bringing the Dragons even.
The Mohawks regained the lead in the top of the fourth. Nick Schaub (Schenectady CC) reached via a Dragon's fielding error and came around to score on a Brandon Cellucci (Hudson Valley CC) single.
Glens Falls threatened in the bottom of the fifth, but came away empty. With two away Drew Greenwood (Bellarmine) and Robbie Knightes (St. Johns) ripped back to back singles. Josh Brown (Skidmore) then singled to right field but Greenwood was cut down at the plate on a perfect throw from Kyle Sacks (UAlbany).
Amsterdam picked up another run in the top of the eighth. Andrew Rouse (Marist) led off the inning with a walk. Rouse advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt, then moved over to third on a ground out and scored on a failed pickoff attempt to make it 3-1 Mohawks.
Glens Falls got a run back in the bottom of the eighth. Knightes led off with a double to right-center field. He then advanced to third on a wild pitch, and scored on a ground out by Dan Carollo (Hartford) to cut the Mohawks lead to 3-2.
The Dragons rallied in the bottom of the ninth. Brian Granton (Colby CC) led off with a pinch-hit single. After a sacrifice bunt by Hoagland moved Granton to second, pinch-hitter Adam Clark (Lewis and Clark) popped up to third for the second out of the inning. Trevor Smeeton then legged out an infield hit to keep the inning alive. Greenwood followed Smeeton with a single to score Granton to make tie the game at 3. It was the fourth hit of the game for Greenwood. Not be out done, Knightes in his Glens Falls debut hit a bloop walk off single to center for his fourth hit of the ball game to complete the Dragon's comeback.
Franklin Miller (Dominican) 1-0 earned the win for Glens Falls with 4 1/3 innings of solid relief. Reliever Chase Haney (Florida State) 0-1 took the loss for the Mohawks.
Greenwood and Knightes were both 4 for 5 for Glens Falls.
Glens Falls is now 1-2. Amsterdam falls to 0-3 on the young season.
