Generals sweep Sharks to open season

SELDEN, NY – The Herkimer Generals baseball team began their 2014 season sweeping Suffolk County Community College in four games, 4-2, 6-1, 12-9 and 2-1.

Francis Prettitore hit a RBI double in the sixth inning to break a 2-2 tie in game one. Herkimer would go on to win 4-2. Rob Hardy picked up the first win going five innings with five strikeouts; allowing one earned run, five hits and no walks. Alex Lynch picked his first college save working two perfect innings with three strikeouts. Tyler Phillips was 2-3 at the plate.

Kyle Garrison worked four innings in game two and picked up the 6-1 victory. Garrison struck out eight hitters over four innings allowing one earned run, one walk, and five hits. Herkimer started the scoring in the first with two bases loaded walks by John Boland and Eric Downey. Tashi Terashima added a two RBI single to seal the game two victory.

The bats were the story in game three as Herkimer won 12-9. Shinnosuke Takahashi drilled a two RBI triple in the first inning. Suffolk got on the board in the third with a two out run scoring error followed by a triple to close the gap to 3-2. Suffolk would chase starter Ben Moxley in the fourth inning scoring four runs with two outs. Herkimer answered back in the fifth scoring five runs on back to back RBI double by Tyler Phillips and Brandon Martinez.

Francis Prettitore added a two RBI single in the fifth as well to push Herkimer to a 7-6 lead. Suffolk responded in the bottom of the fifth scoring three runs to take a 9-6 lead. Herkimer would come back again in the sixth scoring five runs keyed by Prettitore's three RBI bases loaded double. That would be enough as Shinnosuke Takahashi closed the door in the seventh to seal the 12-9 win. Prettitore went 2-4 with five RBI and Tyler Phillips went 3-5 at the plate.

Herkimer got a big performance from RHP Mike DeCarlo who worked 6 innings striking out 7 allowing 1 unearned run, 3 hits and 1 walk. Suffolk held a 1-0 lead into the sixth when Tashi Terashima drove in Brandon Martinez to tie the game at one. Martinez hit an RBI single to score AJ Fabrizio who singled and stole second earlier in the inning. Will Apps closed the door in the seventh for the save to seal the four-game sweep.

Herkimer heads to Myrtle Beach to continue their spring trip with games on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday.