Baseball now at 21 consecutive with sweep of Raiders

(Herkimer's Patrick Merryweather got his third complete games shutout of the season Thursday).

(Herkimer's Chris Rave collects one of his two RBI in game two Thursday against the Raiders).

HERKIMER, NY – The Herkimer Generals baseball team collected their 13^th sweep of the season on Thursday (4/3) at home, defeating Fulton-Montgomery 5-4 and 10-0 in a doubleheader.

Herkimer (29-3, 17-1) managed their least amount of runs scored and hits in conference play during game one, but it didn't matter as they rode sophomore Jake Shortlself (Hannibal, NY) to his third win (3-0) of the season. The righty got into the fifth inning with the lead (5-1), needing Will Apps (Cicero, NY) to relieve him for the rest of the game, but his four runs allowed proved to be enough – all of them earned – almost wasting a season-high 10 strike out performance. Apps finished with 1 1/3 innings of work, not allowing a hit or run for his fourth save of the season. Apps is third in the nation in that category.

As for the offense, the offense only had five hit in the game. Getting two big ones was John Boland (Rhinebeck, NY) and Gage Lanning (Central Square, NY), helping the Generals score all five of their runs in the fourth and fifth innings. It was Boland's seventh RBI in his last six games and Lanning's first home run of the season, tallying four RBI in his last three games.

Game two of the doubleheader resembled more of what we've seen all season from the Generals. Patrick Merryweather (Baldwinsville, NY) collected his third complete game shutout of the season, going six innings for the first time since his second appearance, now 5-1. His nine strikeouts was also his second best total of the season.

Offensively Chris Rave (Middletown, NY), Taishi Terashima (Hiranai, Japan) and Tyler Phillips (Hancock, NY) surpassed Herkimer's hit total from game one, totaling seven of the team's 10 total hits. Rave went 2-for-4 with 2RBI, Terashima went 3-for-3 with one RBI and Phillips went 2-for-4 with one RBI.

Up next for Herkimer is SUNY Adirondack on Friday (5/1). The Generals will host a Timberwolves team that is 10-23 and ranked 13^th in the Region III. On the flip side of that, Herkimer has won 17 consecutive conference games and are the top team in the region. Game times on Friday are 2 p.m. and 4 p.m.

Game One:

Herkimer (28-3, 16-1) 5

Fulton-Montgomery (4-22, 2-13) 4

Raiders 100 003 0 4 | 4

Generals 000 230 0 5 | 5

Pitching:

Herkimer

Jake Shortslef (W, 3-0) 5 2/3IP 4H 4R 4ER 4BB 10K

Will Apps (S, 4) 1 1/3IP 0H 0R 0ER

Fulton-Montgomery

Christian Maldonaldo (L, 1-6) 6IP 5H 5R 3ER 2BB 4K 1HR

Hitting:

Generals

John Boland 1-for-2 1RBI

Gage Lanning 1-for-2 1RBI 1HR

Chris Rave 0-for-3 1RBI

Patrick Dorrian 0-for-1 1RBI

Raiders

Baylee Hall 1-for-2 2RBI

Jonathan Wingate 1-for-2 1RBI

James Waters 1-for-3 1RBI

Game Two:

Herkimer (29-3, 17-1) 10

Fulton-Montgomery (4-23, 2-14) 0

Generals 120 043 10 | 10

Raiders 000 000 1 | 0

Pitching:

Herkimer

Patrick Merryweather (W, 5-1) 6IP 1H 0R 0ER 3BB 9K

Fulton-Montgomery

Jared Gregware (L, 2-5) 4 1/3IP 8H 7R 5ER 3BB 2K

Chris Carmel 1IP 2H 3R 2ER 3BB

Hitting:

Generals

Chris Rave 2-for-4 2RBI

Taishi Terashima 3-for-3 1RBI

Tyler Phillips 2-for-4 1RBI 12B

John Boland 1-for-2 1RBI

Gage Lanning 1-for-3 1RBI

Matt Lichtman 0-for-3 1RBI

Next Doubleheader: 5/1 vs. SUNY Adirondack 2 & 4 p.m.

-Giorgio Varlaro