VOORHEESVILLE — The Voorheesville baseball team is looking for a little consistency this spring.

The Blackbirds have not played every game at the same level. Voorheesville picked up a couple of big league wins so far this season, but have lost three games in the league.

“We’ve been too inconsistent,” Voorheesville Coach Hank Czerwinski said. “Once we get some consistency, we’ll be fine. After vacation, we should be better. We’ll have all of our guys back.”

The Blackbirds lost to Ravena-Coeymans-Selkirk, 17-0, on Monday, and played Cobleskill on Tuesday. The Birds beat Mechanicville last Thursday, 14-8, and beat Schalmont, 7-1, last Monday.

Voorheesville also has league losses to Watervliet and Cohoes.

Routed by Ravena

On Monday, the Blackbirds struggled against Ravena as they got just four hits in the game.

“Our strikeouts are down,” Czerwinski said. “We put the ball in play but it was right at them.”

Junior pitcher Joe Berschwinger struggled in the first inning. He gave up three runs on six hits in the frame as the Ravena hitters swung the bats mightily.

If not for a beautifully turned double play that ended the inning, the Indians could have scored more runs.

Dan Irwin hit a ground ball to Voorheesville shortstop Jay Conde. Conde fielded the ball and threw it to second baseman Tommy Pasqualli who relayed the ball to first baseman Nick Blow.

Ravena scored 10 runs in the third inning as Berschwinger struggled with his command and Ravena continued its solid hitting.

Freshman Ryan Duncan pitched the final three innings, giving up just four runs.

Against Schalmont, Joey pitched well,” Czerwinski said. “We had no errors and we got clutch hits in key situations….”

“Ravena is one of the better teams in the Colonial Council,” Czerwinski said. “Watervliet and Cohoes are also good. They are all hitters.”

Shutting down Schalmont

Against Schalmont, Ryan Gatt had two singles and drove in four runs. Nick Blow was the big hitter against Mechanicville with a single, triple and four runs batted in.

“Consistency is something you wish for,” Czerwinski said. “But you don’t always get that in high school baseball.”

Missing players

Also hampering the Blackbirds this week is that they are missing a few players due to the spring vacation.

Duncan, a freshman, has not pitched at all this season and, later in the game, eighth-grader Mike Chiseri, a junior varsity call-up, was behind the plate, catching.

The Blackbirds are also missing Landon Church who will be having surgery on his knee and is out for the rest of the season.

“Ryan Gatt will be our fourth starter,” Czerwinski said. “He’s pitched well. He’s got a win in there somewhere. And against Cohoes he’s done pretty well.”

The Voorheesville squad has one of the largest group of seniors Czerwinski has been able to coach in a single season.

“This is the first year since I’ve been here that I’ve had five seniors start a game,” Czerwinski said. “But we don’t have much on the junior side. The JV is young and the varsity is young.”

The seniors are Massaroni, Conde, Pasqualli, Adam Duncan, and Kevin Klembczyk.

There are just four juniors on the roster including Church. The others are Nick Blow, Berschwinger, and Gatt.

After Monday’s game, the Blackbirds have a 5-3 overall record and a 2-3 mark in the Colonial Council.

“We have to start to pull it together,” Czerwinski said. “We have to work on a few things. But we haven’t been half-way through the Colonial Council.”