Calhoun entered Thursday's game against Baldwin having taken their first two non-league games of the season, wins over MacArthur and  Massapequa.  They were anxious to make it a three straight.  Perhaps a bit too anxious.

The Colts bats were stifled early, heated up in the fifth, then put on ice once again, as the visiting Bruins prevailed, 9-8.

The game moved fast early on.  That's what happens when a pitcher is perfect, and Baldwin starter Tommy Kelleher was just that through the first three innings, getting one ground ball out after another.

"We were just overanxious," said Jake Thomas, Colt's catcher.  "We were trying to do too much at the plate instead of waiting back and just shooting the ball up the middle; with a sinkerball pitcher you've got to do [that], keep it down and hard."

Colts pitcher Mike Grossane didn't have such luck early on, giving up a pair of runs in the first and fourth before departing. He would get a no-decision, as his team staged a furious rally, all the more stunning considering how cold the bats were the first few frames.

Zach Goldstein broke the ice with a one-out single in the fourth, and scored on a Robbie Rosen sac fly. After Calhoun reliever Sal Armao pitched a perfect fifth, the Colts erupted offensively.

John Eyerman had an RBI double, and two batters later, Dan Sullivan appeared to tie the game with a single, but the home plate umpire said Eyerman never touched the plate, and was tagged out.

The controversy would die down in seconds, as Goldstein launched the very next pitch over the leftfield fence for a two-run homer, putting the Colts up 5-4.  RBI hits by Rosen and Alex Rodriguez made it 7-4.

In the sixth, Armao ran into some control problems, walking the bases loaded before giving up a run-scoring single. After another walk, Armao left, replaced by Mike Mugno. Mugno gave up a run-scoring single and a bases loaded walk, and the Colts were down again, 8-7.

Calhoun came back once again in the sixth on Sullivan's run-scoring single, but left the go-ahead on runs on base. That set the stage for Baldwin's Jake Cleva in the seventh. The Bruin outfielder launched a John Goldberg 3-2 pitch over the leftfield wall for a home run to put the visitors up 9-8.

There would be no third rally, as the Colts went down in order to end the game, as Kelleher went the distance for the win.  Goldberg took the loss.  Goldstein finished 2-4 with two RBIs.  Sullivan did the same, and Thomas notched two hits as well.

"We all have room to improve, everyone as a team," Thomas said.

Colts coach Joe Corea said his pitching wasn't good enough to win on this day, and echoed Thomas' sentiments about a lack of patience early on.

"We were overanxious, we tried too hard," he said.

The Colts will try for a win on Friday, when non-league play continues at Oceanside.