Courtesy: Cardinals Athletics
The St. John Fisher College baseball team completed its season sweep of Houghton College on Monday afternoon as the Cardinals took both ends of an Empire 8 doubleheader at Dugan Yard. With the wins, Fisher improved to 11-9 and 4-0 in the conference standings while the Highlanders fell to 7-14, 0-4, respectively.
FISHER 8, HOUGHTON 5
After setting the side down in order in the top of the first, Fisher claimed the lead in the home half of the inning after plating two runs on one hit and a Highlanders’ error. Noah Campanelli, who was named the Empire 8 Player of the Week for the second consecutive week, led off the frame with a walk and came around to score on a single by Michael Beimel that made it 1-0. After moving to third on Beimel’s single, Patrick Kravitz would score when Nick Lemire lifted a sacrifice fly that gave the home team a 2-0 advantage before Houghton could get off the field.
After trading zeroes over the next two innings, Fisher tacked on another run in the fourth as Jack Kelleher lifted a sacrifice fly that plated Evan Bowers who had walked earlier in the frame.
Leading by three runs in bottom of the fifth, Fisher put another run on the board when Ben Lavery singled through the left side to score Beimel and give the Cardinals a four-run cushion.
In the top of the sixth, Houghton’s offense came to life as the Highlanders turned a 4-0 lead into a one-run advantage after scoring five runs on the strength of four hits to take a one-run gap into the bottom of the frame.
Trailing for the first time, Fisher responded with four runs on four hits with the big blow coming off of Kravitz’s bat in the form of a two-run single to left.
Facing an 8-5 deficit in the top of the seventh, Houghton brought the tying run to the plate, but Christian Maloney got the next two hitters to fly out to earn his first save of the season.
Beimel was 2-for-3 in the win with a pair of RBI and a walk while Lavery had two hits in three at-bats with an RBI of his own.
Connor McHugh started for Fisher and gave up three runs over five innings of work. Logan Persse (2-1) earned the win in relief after yielding two runs on three hits in an inning while Maloney picked up the save following a scoreless seventh inning.
FISHER 21 HOUGHTON 0
In the nightcap, the Cardinals’ pitching limited the Highlander offense to just one hit over seven innings. Michael Poirier took the ball to start and went three innings and finished with two strikeouts. Ryan O’Mara (2-0) earned the win after tossing four shutout frames and allowing just one hit in all.
Fisher struck first when Campanelli cracked a triple to right in the first inning and came around to score two batters later when Beimel brought him in with a sacrifice fly to center to make it 1-0.
The Cardinals blew the game wide open three innings later after sending 14 hitters to the plate resulting in eight runs on seven hits to hold a 9-0 edge heading into the fifth.
With nine runs already on the board, Fisher continued to pound the Highlanders’ pitching with four more runs on three hits including a two-run double from Brian Norsen to open up a 13-0 cushion.
In the sixth inning, Fisher strung together another long frame with 15 players coming to bat overall including Ethan Perry who had two hits and a pair of RBI to stake Fisher to a 21-run lead.
In all, the Cardinals accounted for a season-high 19 hits including seven that went for extra bases. Lemire was 3-for-6 with a double, an RBI and four runs scored in the win while Norsen had three hits overall including two doubles and four RBI. Luke Duffy was 3-for-3 with a double and a homerun while Campanelli was 2-for-4 with a triple and two runs batted in. Beimel and Perry each had two hits while Kravitz, Joe Ruggiero, Lavery and James Murphy came away with a hit on the day.
The Cardinals are off on Tuesday before returning to action at 4 p.m. on Wednesday against No. 20 Oswego State at Dugan Yard.
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