The Albany Dutchmen welcomed the visiting Cooperstown Hawkeyes to Bellizzi Field on Friday night and played a crisp game in earning the 6-1 win. Albany had few miscues, and added some timely hitting to provide starter Andrew Furber (Gloucester County CC) with the win.

Furber worked seven innings, as he scattered six hits and struck out two. The Hawkeyes were only able to muster one run off the righty hurler. Blake Smith (Morehead State) followed Furber with a perfect inning of relief, and Dutchmen closer Trevor Lacosse (Bryant) came in and shut the door in a non-save opportunity in the ninth.

The Dutchmen fed off of Furber’s focus on the mound and gave him some early run support as they jumped out to a 5-0 lead after two innings, including a four-run second inning. Infielders Adam Young (UC Davis) and Jon Mestas (Buffalo) led the way for Albany as they each recorded multi-hit games. Young led the team with an impressive three hits, while driving in one run and scoring once as well. Mestas provided the Dutchmen with plenty of clutch hitting as he drove in an incredible four runs, while recording two hits and scoring a run of his own.

Albany did their heavy lifting off of Cooperstown starter Cody Cooper (Northern Kentucky) as he couldn’t settle in on the mound through the early innings. He ended up getting into a groove and providing Cooperstown with some length as he completed seven innings of work, while giving up nine hits and six runs. He walked five and struck out two, as he picked up the loss.

Furber shut down the Cooperstown lineup for most of the night as no one recorded a multi-hit game for the Hawkeyes. The best performance came from Patrick Hyde (Northern Kentucky) who had one hit, walk, and run for Cooperstown.

Albany moves to 12-13 while Cooperstown falls to 9-16 on the season. Albany will next be at home on Sunday night against the Glens Falls Golden Eagles. Game time is set for 5pm.