BOSTON— Senior Dustin Shimkus (Collinsville, Ill.) scored eight times and drove in six runs while Norwich hit three homeruns and got two stellar pitching performances in a doubleheader sweep of Emerson on Sunday.

The wins were the Cadets first two in Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) play and push them up two spots in the conference standings. Norwich sits at 2-4 in the league while improving to 3-12 overall.

In game one, Norwich took it to the Lions, winning 11-1 behind a complete-game, one-hit performance from freshman Billy Whaley (Northfield, Vt.). Whaley dominated the Emerson lineup, throwing 17 of 24 first pitches for strikes and racking up eight strikeouts.

He also went 2-4 at the plate, hitting his first collegiate homerun, a line drive to dead centerfield in the sixth inning.

Norwich trailed 1-0 after the first inning as the Lions picked up an unearned run but the Cadets answered with two in the third inning to take the lead after three Lion miscues.

The Cadets began to separate in the fifth inning, scoring four times on hits by freshman Cody Lindell (Cranston, R.I.), Devin Cilley (Tunbridge, Vt.) and Brandon Place (Concord, N.H.) while also using three walks and an error.

In the sixth, Shimkus doubled and scored on Whaley's homerun. Following Whaley, Norwich went back-to-back as Cilley connected on his first collegiate homerun.

Norwich added two more in the seventh to coast to the victory.

More of the same ensued in game two as Norwich got a dominant pitching performance from senior Sam Philbrook (Rochester, Mass.), who went four innings, yielding two earned runs on just two hits.

The Cadet offense stayed hot, racking up 13 hits, including four from Shimkus and four from Sean Gerich (Chicago, Ill.).

Shimkus went 4-5 in the game, scoring five runs and picking up five RBIs. His homerun in the sixth inning was his seventh of his career and pulls him into a tie for the Cadets all-time record.

Norwich came out of the gate and immediately scored three runs after a double by Gerich and a Lion error. Shimkus then brought home two with a double and scored later on a groundout by Lindell.

Norwich picked up three more in the third after a Lindell single and two more Lion mistakes.

Norwich picked up a solo run in the fifth before Shimkus' homer in the sixth. The Cadets finished the game by scoring three in the seventh that included the first collegiate RBIs for Tyler Noyes (Springfield, Mass.).

The Cadets are back in action on Tuesday against Lyndon State.