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Mother Nature provided a beautiful backdrop for the game in Saugerties, where the Dutchmen would fall 5-4.

The Albany Dutchmen (14-14) lost to the Saugerties Stallions (10-15) Monday night, as five early runs gave the Stallions a 5-4 victory.

Saugerties would be all over Dutchmen starter Jack Grabek (Bucknell University) from the beginning, as they immediately put a run up on the board in the bottom of the 1st off a Tyler Noe (University of Massachusetts-Lowell) RBI single to score Alex Thrower (University at Buffalo). They would put another “1” up in the bottom of the 2nd, as Brian Dempsey (Boston College) flew out allowing Vince Lakes Jr. (Franklin Pierce University) to score and make it 2-0.

In the bottom of the 3rd, Saugerties would more and double their lead, tacking on three more runs. Michael Pfenninger (Manhattan College) would be the first run, as he scored from 2nd on a passed ball that rolled a long way away from Dutchmen catcher Brent Alford (Augusta University). Grabek looked to get his control back, getting a flyout and popout immediately after for the first 2 outs, but after walking Micah Riddick (St. Bonaventure University) would allow a two-run home run to Lakes and make it a 5-0 game, subsequently being removed from the game, going only 2.2 innings, allowing 4 hits, 5 runs (all earned), while walking 4 and striking out 1.

The Dutchmen bullpen would be phenomenal though, as Jackson Bubala (Dartmouth College) came in and went 4.1 no-hit innings, allowing no runs and 4 walks while striking out 4. Jack Owens (Bryant University) would throw the 8th for the Dutchmen, allowing only a pair of walks. The offense would look to make the most out of the help it got from the bullpen, as they looked to claw their way back.

After stranding a runner on base in the 3rd, 4th and 5th innings, the crooked numbers would start to pop up on the visitors side in the 6th. The inning began with a Jack Gethings (Fairfield University) double, and after moving up on a Justin Childers (Ohio Dominican University) groundout, would score on an error from the pitcher Andrew Workman (Quinnipiac University) off the bat Malcolm Nachmanoff (Stony Brook University), who was awarded a single and moved up to second on the error. He would go to 3rd on a Kyle Skeels (Coastal Carolina University) single and end up scoring on a wild pitch from Workman, making it a 5-2 game after 6 and a half.

Albany would pick up right where they left off in the 7th, as they got runners in Alford and Carson Klepzig (University of Mississippi) on 1dt and 2nd with 1 out. JJ Shimko (University of South Carolina Upstate) would follow up with a single scoring Alford, and as the ball got past the center fielder Thrower, Klepzig was allowed to score and Shimko moved up to 2nd with only 1 out, but after going to 3rd on a groundout would be left there as Childers flew out to end the top 7th, and the Dutchmen trailed 5-4 at the stretch.

That would be all the offense either side saw for the remainder of the game, as neither squad hit a ball out of the infield for the remainder as the Dutchmen went down in order in their final two at-bats, as Albany would fall and end their road trip 2-2, both losses coming at the hands of Saugerties.

The top three in the order would finish 5-for-12 with an RBI and a run, as Shimko went 2-for-4 with a RBI, Gethings had his double and a run, and Childers went 2-for-4 with a pair of singles. Alford, hitting 8th, would finish 2-for-3 with a run before being pinch-hit for in the 9th.

The Dutchmen will look to avenge their two losses to Saugerties when the two teams match up tomorrow night in Albany, as first pitch is set for 7:05 on Bark in the Park Night and Trivia Tuesday at Bellizzi Field.