The Baseball Observer April 2015 vol 2 | Page 9

NELLIS THROWS SECOND PERFECT GAME FOR GENERALS IN 23RD CONSECUTIVE WIN Source: Herkimer Athletics 5/1/15: HERKIMER, NY – Playing their last 16 games against Mountain Valley Conference opponents on Friday (5/1), the Herkimer Generals baseball team collected their 23rd consecutive victory, defeating SUNY Adirondack 13-3 and 10-0. Herkimer (31-3, 18-1) allowed all three of their runs in the first inning of the doubleheader against the Timberwolves, giving Herkimer starter Chad Sinko a scare with the possibility at that time in losing his first game of the season. Sinko turned the corner after his defense behind him made exceptional plays in the second, third and fourth innings. Jake Rouse made a great over-the-shoulder catch in the second, just a couple steps away from the warning track. Matt Lichtman tracked a lot of ground from the second base spot to catch a fly ball in foul territory in the third, making the play just a few inches away from the baseball field’s fence line. Then Patrick Dorrian made a terrific pick just inside the third base line in the fourth, to his right, gunning out the runner from across the diamond. With Sinko’s defense in-line, the starter settled throwing a complete game. The sophomore only allowed those three runs in the first inning, two of them earned, for his fourth win (4-0) of the season. Defense wasn’t the only phase getting the job done in game one however. Chris Rave, Dorrian and Lichtman collecting multiple runs batted in against SUNY Adirondack. Rave finished with three RBI, while both Dorrian and Lichtman finished with two. Rave and Dorrian now share the team lead with 35 runs batted in. As for Lichtman, the infielder has 17. In game two, Herkimer witnessed their second perfect game of the season, this time from freshman Joe Nellis. Michael Harrington threw the Generals first perfect game against the Timberwolves just over a week ago. Nellis did it Friday against SUNY Adirondack, only needing five innings to do so with the team 10-run ruling their opponent. Nellis hadn’t allowed a run in his last two starts, and only four hits in 10 innings, but his most recent performance toped both of those outings, finishing with a season-high nine strikeouts. Offensively, helping the Generals score 10 runs in game two was Taishi Terashima, Tyler Phillips, Dorrian, Michael Fancher, Lichtman, Eric Downey, Adam Nell and John Tandy. Each player had a run batted in, amassing 10 hits together.