GUILDERLAND — The fantastic season for the Guilderland baseball team continued this past week, as the Dutchmen bounced back from their only loss to win three games.

Guilderland lost to Shaker on April 28, but came back with wins over Ballston Spa on April 30, Burnt Hills on May 2, Shenendehowa last Friday, and Columbia on Monday.

But the wins haven’t come easily.
"We’re hanging in there," said Guilderland Coach Doug LaValley. "We are doing a good job. It’s good for us to be in tight games."

The Dutchmen beat Columbia, 8-7, on Monday and Burnt Hills, 6-5, last Wednesday. The Dutch did have breathing room in an 8-3 win over Shen last Friday.
"Those games get you ready for the post season," LaValley said. "It wouldn’t be good to be in the post season and not have played in a one-run game."

The Dutchmen have played in two in the past week and have had several one-run wins this season. The lone loss was also by one run.

The loss is not a surprise to LaValley. He knows his team is good, but he also knows how good the Suburban Council is.
"There is always someone out there looking to knock us off," the coach said. "You can absolutely learn more from a loss than a win. It’s been a long time since anyone went undefeated in the Suburban Council. It’s probably been over 20 years. We beat ourselves."

The Dutchmen have been swinging the bats well this season and have gotten good pitching from six different hurlers this season.
"We are swinging the bats okay," LaValley said. "We just have to tighten up the defense."

Team work

Offense carried the day last Wednesday as Jake Colavito’s home run in the fifth inning provided the winning run against Burnt Hills. Colavito also had six runs batted in and a grand slam in Monday’s win over Columbia.

Nick Polsinelli also hit a home run in the Columbia game and sophomore Steve Anderson has done well at the plate this year.

Polsinelli is 4-0 on the mound this season to lead the Dutchmen. He got the win on Monday, pitching a tough complete game against the Blue Devils in East Greenbush.

C.J. Sohl has been a more than solid number-two pitcher for the Dutchmen. He got the win on Friday against Shen.

Kyle LaValley started a game and got a win this season. Greg Barcomb has picked up a couple of wins on the mound, including last Wednesday against Burnt Hills. The Dutch have also gotten good innings out of Kyle Leclair — who has a couple of wins — and Jason Westervelt, who started against Burnt Hills.
"We got some non-leaguers coming up," LaValley said of out of league games. "We’ll give guys some more innings. We’ll be ready for the post-season. Jason started against Burnt Hills and did a good job. We just let him down on defense. Greg came in and was great in relief."

The Dutch played Bethlehem on Wednesday, and, after that game, they have just two league games left — Monday against Columbia, and Tuesday against Niskayuna. Guilderland will also play a non-league game today (Thursday) against Christian Brothers Academy, Saturday at Queensbury, and next Thursday against Bishop Maginn.

The Dutch are on the cusp of winning the Suburban Council, but want to finish strong in their last league games.
"We are pretty focused," LaValley said. "We have lofty goals. We know the destination and we are taking the right route"This team knows how to win. I still think we have our best baseball ahead of us."