By Cody Marshall-Sultan of Sports

GALWAY–One day after beating Saratoga Catholic, the Galway varsity baseball team was back on the diamond on Tuesday against WAC South opponent Middleburgh. The Golden Eagles came into the game looking to extend their winning streak to four games, and be over .500 overall for the first time since last season when the Golden Eagles began the season 1-0. After closing out the game Monday and picking up the win, Evan Ceroalo was given the start once again as he looked to pick up his second win in as many days.

Middleburgh got the scoring started early in this one. After a bloop single put the leadoff hitter on for Middleburgh, the Knights cashed in with two outs when a misplayed ball in center field allowed the run to come in to score for the early 1-0 advantage. However, Galway would get the run back in the bottom half when Adam Berlin came around to score on a double by Kyle Collins, knotting the score at 1-1. That score would hold until the 4th inning when the Knights managed to push two more runs across as a result of taking advantage of miscues, walks, and timely hitting. In the bottom half, Cody Marshall led off the inning with a single to short, in which he beat the throw out. Tyler Bailey advanced Marshall to second with a ground out to first as the Knights opted against the double play. A single to left by Frank Schwab allowed Marshall to move up to third. With Evan Ceroalo up, Frank Schwab stole second and then Ceroalo plated both runners with a single to center. Shane Marshall would later drive in Ceroalo with a single to right, giving the Golden Eagles their first lead of the game at 4-3.

The score would hold until the 7th inning when Middleburgh managed two more runs to retake the lead. After the first two batters of the inning reached, Evan Ceroalo’s night was done and the Golden Eagles turned it over to Kyle Collins. The first batter Collins faced grounded one to short where Adam Berlin flipped it to Cody Marshall at second for one out, but the relay to first was just late as the runner beat it out. On the ensuing pitch, a failed suicide squeeze was harmless for the Knights as John Wrigley managed to slide in ahead of Shane Marshall’s tag, knotting the game at 4-4. After Collins managed to get the next batter to pop out to Cody Marshall at second, Middleburgh would take the lead on the next at-bat when a pop up left no one covering first and then a rushed throw by Cody Marshall got by Evan Ceroalo, allowing the go-ahead run to score. Galway managed to get a runner on in the bottom half, but couldn’t quite tie the game as the Knights pulled off the win.

Due to the runners that Collins inherited scoring, Evan Ceroalo was charged with the loss on the mound (1-1). The win went to John Wrigley. Galway’s three-game winning streak was snapped and the Golden Eagles drop to 4-5 overall and 3-3 in the WAC. The Golden Eagles will need to bounce back quickly as they play WAC South opponent Sharon Springs Wednesday at 4:30pm in Sharon Springs. A win for the Golden Eagles would put their magic number down to 3 in order to clinch a Sectional birth for the first time since the 2008 season.