Finger Lakes shuts out Herkimer in first game of regional baseball Final Four

LITTLE FALLS – Pitchers stole the show on the first day of NJCAA Region III’s Division III baseball Final Four Thursday, and a pair of shutouts sent the top two seeds to the double elimination tournament’s first elimination game Friday afternoon at Veterans Memorial Park.

Finger Lakes Community College right-hander Devin Georgetti pitched a complete game six-hitter and defeated top seed Herkimer College 2-0 in Game 1.

Kyle Menaker went seven innings for defending champion Niagara County Community College in Game 2 and Ryan Birchard pitched the last two to complete a 3-0 win over No. 2 Erie Community College.

More: Herkimer Generals host region's baseball Final Four as top seed

Erie (43-11-1) and Niagara (47-8) had split four decisions during the regular season. Herkimer (34-6) had beaten Finger Lakes (37-19) in the one rain-shortened game they had previously played against each other.

Ethan Patch, Herkimer’s starting pitcher, held Finger Lakes’ Lakers to two runs on two hits through five innings with some help from center fielder Jordan Lewis, who earned a spot on ESPN’s Sports Center with a spectacular catch to end the fourth inning.

Patch had walked Lucas Sulimowicz with two outs, bringing Devin Kelly to the plate. Kelly sent a fly ball toward the football bleachers in center but Lewis leaped high above the outfield fence to catch the ball, landing atop the fence and tumbling to the front of those bleachers, quickly holing his glove up to indicate he had held on to the ball.

Lewis and Patch each played one more inning. Greg Farone relieved Patch to start the sixth inning and walked his first batter before striking out the next 12 in a row. Patch’s five strikeouts gave Herkimer 17 for the game, including the final 13 outs.

A walk, a stolen base, a ground ball and a wild pitch gave Finger Lakes its first run in the second inning, and the Lakers paired their two hits together in the third when Lukas Haefner doubled and scored on a two-out single by Tyler Cerame.

Georgetti allowed six hits while striking out 12 batters and walking two. He held the Generals to two hits through the first six innings and got a double play from his defense after Sal Carricato led off the seventh with a single.

Herkimer had two runners on base only once when Kyle Caccamise drew a two-out walk and Mike Gunning followed with a single; Georgetti struck out the next batter to end that inning.

Ty Gallagher’s ninth-inning double was the only extra base hit for the Generals who play again Friday at 1 p.m. needing to win that game and one more later in the day to get to the championship round Saturday.

Herkimer had not been shut out since March 16, 2016, when Waubonsee Community College beat the Generals 6-0 in the final game of their Spring Break trip to Florida. Herkimer had been shut out twice previously on that trip.

Erie’s Sam Calcaterra was almost a match for Niagara’s Menaker but allowed single runs in the second and fourth innings and an Andrew Fairbrother home run leading off the eighth.

Niagara and Finger Lakes play for a spot in the championship round following the elimination game between Herkimer and Erie. The winner of the early game and the loser of the second game meet in Friday’s finale to determine the other entry in Saturday’s championship round.

Play is currently scheduled for a noon start Saturday.

Jon Rathbun is a sportswriter for the Times Telegram. Email Jon at sports@timestelegram.com.

This article originally appeared on Times Telegram: Finger Lakes CC beats Herkimer College in regional baseball playoff