AMERICUS — Michael Swain was prepared to be Southland Academy’s ace on the mound when this baseball season started.

Will Webb was ready to anchor the middle infield at shortstop and was unaware of the task that would be laid before him midseason.

With a struggling pitching staff, Webb was called upon and has become the Raiders’ No. 2 pitcher.

And while Swain has thrived in the role as the Raiders’ top pitcher, it’s been Webb’s emergence that has given the Raiders a solid 1-2 punch entering this weekend’s best-of-three series at North Cobb Christian.

“When they’re on, and they are most of the time, they keep us in ball games,” said coach David Cochran. “The make their opponents hit their way on and they show a lot of guts and leadership out there. That’s what we’ve got to have.”

The senior duo stifled Pinewood Christian last weekend in the first round of the GISA AAA playoffs. Webb tossed a one-hit shutout on Friday, and Swain followed with a career-high 15 strikeouts as the Raiders edged the Patriots in extra innings.

Their season numbers stand out — Swain (7-1) has 76 strikeouts compared with 25 walks, and Webb (3-2) has struck out 36 compared to walking nine and has two shutouts.

They don’t compare each other’s pitching styles, they like to compliment one another.

“He’s a more off-speed pitcher, and I’m more of a fast ball, placement kind of guy,” said Swain. “We don’t really critique each other, we just let each other do our own thing. ‘You do your thing and do it good, and I’ll keep on doing what I’m doing.’ ”

Webb didn’t see any time on the mound until the semifinals against North Cobb, and he hadn’t thrown a pitch this year until Cochran threw him into the fire at Trinity Christian.

“It was tough because I hadn’t thrown a bullpen or anything,” said Webb. “But I’ve pitched before, and it wasn’t a region game or anything, so I wasn’t that nervous.”

Webb induced three ground balls that Cochran said should have been outs, but instead, two of the three plays turned into errors and the Raiders lost 8-7.

Webb said it can be hard to rebound from scenarios as that one, but he gained a lot of confidence from the appearance.

Cochran said that he knew then Webb could become the team’s second starter.

“We saw he had the ability to pitch in tight situations,” he said. “You could see after that his poise and confidence was really beginning to grow.”