**We did not have room in Friday's hard copy for the box score or the last few paragraphs, so here is the full version**

William Montgomery

The Record

WATERVLIET – It was a homecoming of sorts for Caleb Gleason, returning to the baseball diamond at Watervliet High School. Gleason, a standout for the Cannoneers high school team, sluggs for the Lansingburgh Royals in summer ball. He went 1-for-5 on Thursday but did he ever master the productive out.

Gleason produced five runs on three ground outs and added a two-RBI single in the first inning as the Royals pounded the Cohoes-Watervliet White Sox 13-4 in an Eastern New York Connie Mack league game.

The Royals’ crushing blow came in the fourth when Gleason, with the bases loaded and no out, weakly tapped out on a ground ball to first base. Cohoes-Watervliet first baseman Mark Pertierra threw to second trying to get another out, but no one covered the bag and the ball sailed into left field. All three runners scampered home to give Lansingburgh an insurmountable 9-4 lead.

“Everybody’s hitting now,” Gleason said, “we don’t rely only on one guy.”

Gleason’s productive outs aside, the Royals also hit for power. Dan Dessignue hit a two-run homer in the first and Andy Grayson smacked a solo shot to right in the fourth.

After stumbling out of the gate to a 7-7 record early in the season, the Royals have recently taken off. Lansingburgh is the winner of seven games in a row, outscoring their opponents 70-17 over that stretch.

The Royals (14-7) play a home-and-home double header against the Colonie Raiders on Saturday before the Connie Mack state tournament begins in the Capital District on Wednesday.

“We had a rough couple games in the beginning,” said Lansingburgh’s Brian Beaury, a La Salle graduate, “but we’re coming around now. We’re hitting the ball, everyone, one through nine.”

Beuary, who played six innings at third base before closing out the game on the mound with a perfect seventh inning, reached base in all five of his plate appearances. Out of the leadoff spot, Beaury doubled, singled, reached twice on errors and also drew a walk, scoring four times.

A handful Royals players were members of the La Salle team that went 27-1 and advanced to the Class AA state semifinals. The elongated high school season wore some of the players down, but the source of Lansingburgh’s midsummer resurgence is easy to explain.

“Everybody is working,” Beaury said. “On days we don’t have games, guys are on the field taking batting practice and the pitchers are running between starts.”

Most of the team has been playing together for years in summer leagues and coaches have called the group ‘the class of 2008’ for quite some time. Across different levels of competition, the group has amassed a 130-31 record.

“I give credit to the players,” said Lansingburgh head coach Joe Henkel. “They’ve worked extra hard, with our pitchers running and all the extra batting practice.”

Cohoes-Watervliet (10-11) has been heading in the opposite direction. The White Sox have lost four straight, outscored 40-7 over the losing streak.

Dan Cook and Mark Pertierra both had RBI singles for Cohoes-Watervliet. Phil Dayter pitched all seven innings for the White Sox and while he surrendered 10 hits, fielding errors behind him extended Lansingburgh’s chances at the plate.

The top four teams from the Eastern New York Connie Mack league earn spots in the state tournament, which begins next week. Lansingburgh will serve as host and receives an invitation to the tournament regardless of record. But after treading water in the middle of the pack for the first half of the season, the Royals are coming around at just the right time.

Lansingburgh starter Dan Carey pitched six strong innings, allowing four runs on four hits. A pair of Royals errors allowed three White Sox runs to cross in the third inning, but Carey recovered, pitching three innings of no-hit ball before being relieved by Beaury.

The Royals also used a pair of pinch-hits in the sixth inning to widen their lead. John Yetto (Lansingburgh High) entered as catcher and lined a two-out single to left. Will Ryan (La Salle), who was filling in for Jared Henkel at second base, followed with an RBI single.

With a strong bench and deep rooted work-ethic among his players, Henkel has high hopes for the upcoming state tournament.

“I’ve been coaching for 17 years and this is one of the teams that I’m extremely proud of,” Henkel said. “We’re on a roll.”

Lansingburgh 13, Cohoes-Watervliet 4

LANSINGBURGH COHOES-WATERVLIET

ab r h bi ab r h bi

Beaury 3b-p 4 4 2 0 Dayter p 4 1 1 0

Bouchard ss 3 3 1 0 Mohr 2b 3 0 0 0

1-Nanktgbrn pr-lf 0 0 0 0 Cook c 3 1 1 1

Gleason rf 5 1 1 4 Haupt rf-3b 3 0 0 1

Grayson dh 5 1 2 2 Welcome 3b-rf 3 1 1 0

Diotte c 2 0 0 0 Ebenhoch lf 2 0 0 0

Yetto c 1 1 1 0 Pertierra 1b 3 0 1 1

Dessignue lf-3b 3 1 1 2 LaBarge cf 2 0 0 0

Henkel 2b 3 0 0 0 a -Carpenter ph 1 0 0 0

Ryan 2b 1 0 1 1 Cioffi ss 2 1 0 0

Reardon 1b 4 0 1 0

Kennedy cf 3 2 0 0

Totals 34 13 10 9 Totals 26 4 4 3

Lansingburgh (14-7)................430 401 1 — 13 10 2

Cohoes-Watervliet (10-11)..........013 000 0 — 4 4 3

1- Ran for Bouchard in seventh, moved to left. a- pinch hit in seventh

E—Bouchard, Beaury, LaBarge, Mohr, Cioffi. DP—Lansingburgh 1

(Bouchard, Henkel & Reardon) Cohoes-Watervliet 1 (Cioffi, Mohr and Pertierra).
LOB—Lansingburgh 6, Cohoes-Watervliet 4. 2B—Beaury, Grayson.

HR—Dessignue, Grayson. SB—Beaury 2, Bouchard 2, Diotte, Welcome.

Lansingburgh ip h R er BB SO

Carey, W 6 4 4 3 2 3

Beaury 1 0 0 0 0 2

Cohoes-Watervliet ip h R er BB SO

Dayter, L 7 10 13 9 6 2

WP — Dayter. HBP —Ebenhoch (by Carey).