Dutchmen take down Saugerties to re-claim second place

LOUDONVILLE — The Albany Dutchmen survived a late scare from the Saugerties Stallions but later pulled away to secure an 8-5 victory on Thursday night at Connors Park at Siena College.

The Dutchmen offense was solid early as they scored five runs in the first three innings, grabbing an early 5-2 lead. Four of those runs came in the first two frames, with Cameron Masterman and John Malcom picking up RBIs in the first, while Lucas Dunn came up with a big two-run triple in the second inning that made it 4-2. 

They scored the fifth run in the third inning to give them a 5-2 advantage, and the score stayed the same until the seventh inning, despite the Stallions loading the bases in the fourth inning off of starter Stephen Koza, but reliever Dylan D’Anna bailed him out with a double play followed by a strikeout to end the threat. 

In the seventh inning, Saugerties again loaded the bases but this time Albany did not get out of it unscathed. They scored a pair of runs on back-to-back bases loaded walks of Cam Coakley and Cameron Comer that made it 5-4. That was only two of the six walks that were issued by the Dutchmen pitching Thursday. Additionally, they hit five Stallion hitters with pitches.

“I guess we’re pretty lucky. We just went over it (with the team), we’ve been off for nine days in the month of July here. Nine of the 18 days we have not been able to get any type of consistency,” Dutchmen manager Nick Davey said. “But, we’re doing enough right now, we’re surviving.”

The Stallions came within inches of tying the game, but Derek Ripp was tagged out at home trying to score on a wild pitch, keeping it a 5-4 game.

With the score now close, Albany came up with a big answer in the bottom half. They sent eight batters to the plate, scoring three of them, highlighted by a two-run single from Nick Jacques that gave the Dutchmen their final two runs of the night. They finished the night with 12 hits, really helping out on a night in which the pitching struggled. They could have had many more runs, as they left another eight runners in scoring position throughout the night.

“It probably could have been more. We got the big hit when we needed to late in the game but there were some situations early we needed to be better in,” Davey said.

The Stallions scored their fifth run in the top of the ninth inning and got as close as having the tying run at the plate, but it was not enough for a comeback to happen.

The Stallions fall to 20-17 on the year. Meanwhile, the Dutchmen are now 19-14 on the year, still 1.5 games back in the East Division behind Amsterdam but are in line for a playoff spot with less than two weeks remaining in the regular season. The Dutchmen are off Friday, but play again on Saturday as they face the Glens Falls Dragons at home. First pitch is set for 5:05 p.m. at Siena College.