2014 Baseball Season Preview
HERKIMER, NY - Herkimer Baseball will start the season March 15th and 16th in Long Island with a four game set with Suffolk Community College. The Generals are excited to get back to baseball for the 2014 season with a new group of players ready to make their mark on the program. The Generals are looking to build on their 31-13 record and seventh Mountain Valley Conference Championship from last season.
Leading that charge will be six pitchers who combined to win 22 games last year. Returning ace, DI Arkansas PB commit, Mike DeCarlo went 6-1 last year, going undefeated in regional play. He posted a 3.26 ERA over 38.2 innings with 55 strikeouts. D1 Sienna commit, Ben Moxley, will be DeCarlo's partner in the rotation this year. Moxley went 3-3 with a 2.01 ERA last season. All Region pitcher, DII Adelphi commit, Kyle Garrison also returns after posting a 6-2 record with a 2.81 ERA last season. Former closer Rob Hardy will slide into the rotation after posting a 1.98 ERA in 12 appearances. DII Erskine College commit Nick Burch who posted a 1.99 ERA last season will pair up with Denis Lyman who is a draft prospect this season with his 93 mph fastball. Freshman Mike Harrington, Lucas Godlewski, and Alex Lynch will look to crack a spot in the rotation and have big futures in the program.
Bullpen features three sidearm specialists in RHP Will Apps, LHP Kohei Otsuka, and RHP Seve Kowalski who will look to get the ball to three guys who will work the back end of games. Dan Colburn, Chas Griffiths, and Shinnosuke Takahashi are all pitchers with stuff to close down games this spring. Six Generals have hit 90 mph so far this spring training in DeCarlo, Burch, Garrison, Lyman, Takahashi, and Griffiths.
Handling the pitching staff will be catchers Andrew Cooper, John Boland and Francis Prettitore. All three list as freshman, but Cooper is coming off a redshirt year and carries a big bat and Boland is a redshirt transfer from DI Iowa Western who also swings the bat for power.
First base duties will go to Chris Burns and Mike Harrington. Burns is a returning three-year player who redshirted his freshman year and was all region last year after leading the Generals in doubles, homeruns and runs batted in.
The middle infield will be a rotation of three players. Returning starter Carlos Almonte will handle both positions and provide leadership to freshman infielders Tyler Phillips and Matt Lichtman. Phillips is a great athlete with lots of experience winning with four sectional titles and starting at shortstop for Hancock Central since he was an 8th grader.
Third base will be occupied by MLB draft prospect Shinnosuke Takahashi from Japan. He is an above average fielder with plus power from the left side of the plate. Tom Carrigan will also work at third base and back up Takahashi when he makes his trips to the mound.
The outfield has two fixtures in returning leadoff hitter A.J. Fabrizio from Florida and super freshman Brandon Martinez. Both are big impact bats at the top of the lineup. Leftfield will be a battle between returning player Lonnie Cohen and three freshman talents in Eric Downey, Mike Fancher and Taishi Terashima.
Herkimer's home opener is March 30th with Columbia Greene Communit