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The Glens Falls Eagles played like a team battling for a playoff berth on Wednesday, at the expense of the Watertown Wizards.
Catcher Chase Griffin went 3-for-4, including two doubles, drove in two runs and scored four times as the Golden Eagles recorded a 14-4 rout at the Alex T. Duffy Fairgrounds. The loss dealt the Wizards a blow in their fading postseason chances in the Perfect Game Collegiate Baseball League.
Glens Falls (19-17), which occupies fourth place and the final playoff spot, won for the first time against Watertown (15-22) in four meetings this season.
Any win is a big one for us, said Glens Falls manager John Mayotte, and we need to keep putting some wins together.
With the loss, the Wizards fell 4 1/2 games behind the Golden Eagles with 10 games remaining in their regular season.
This loss hurt, Watertown center fielder Derek Hagy said. Were trying to make a playoff run here and it hurts when you lose like this. We had some momentum going into this game, but a loss like this is not easy to swallow.
This is definitely an important stretch for us, Glens Falls third baseman Alberto Morales said. Were on a run right now for a playoff spot and weve got to keep winning.
After defeating first-place Amsterdam, 7-6, on Monday, the Golden Eagles showed an early sense of urgency against Watertown by scoring 10 runs in the first four innings, including seven runs in the fourth, to blow the game open.
They capitalized on some mistakes we made early and we couldnt overcome the deficit, Watertown manager Nathan Kafka said. Its tough when you spot them so many runs early, its tough to come back from.
After Glens Falls manufactured two runs in the second inning on a Chris Meyers fielders choice and Anthony Pisanis RBI flyout, the Wizards drew within 2-1 on Chris Glynns run-scoring single to center field.
The Golden Eagles struck for three runs in the third on Griffins two-run double down the left-field line and an RBI sacrifice fly from Meyers.
Watertown closed to within 5-2, but Glens Falls broke the game open with its seven-run outburst in the fourth,keyed by two-run singles from Mike Vigliarolo and Casey Rodrigue.
Today was great for us, Morales said. There were a lot of good parts to our game we hit well, we fielded well and we pitched well it was great to see.
Starter Ryan Peterson (3-3) pitched six innings, allowing four runs, walking four and striking out two to record the win.
He pitched a great game, Mayotte said. Hes one of those guys who has great command and throws his pitches for strikes, he did well for us tonight.
Clarkson Universitys Bryan Chudy yielded five runs in the first three innings to take the loss for Watertown.
Catcher Conor Dishman doubled, singled and knocked in two runs for Watertown, which dropped the last game of a three-game homestand after defeating Cooperstown 18-1 on Monday and Elmira 6-4 on Tuesday.
We played well the last two days, but we let this one get away from us early, Hagy said. Hopefully, well come back Friday refocused and ready to go.
nNOTES: After a day off, the Wizards play at Albany at 7 p.m. on Friday before returning home to face Albany at 7 p.m. Saturday and Newark at 5 p.m. on Sunday. ... The league announced that Watertown slugger Donald Walters 39 runs scored is a season record.