St. John Fisher College’s Justin D’Amato, a sophomore on the baseball team, has been named the College’s Male Athlete of the Week for the week ending May 6, 2012.
D’Amato pitched in just one game this week for the Cardinals but set several records in the outing. On Sunday, D’Amato got the start against Stevens Institute of Technology at Dugan Yard in the weekend series and Empire 8 Conference regular-season finale.
The sophomore pitched seven innings, scattering seven hits while allowing four runs, all of which were unearned. He struck out nine batters in the outing, which raised his season total to 89, breaking the College record for strikeouts in a season. The previous record was held by Dan Jurik, a 25th round draft pick by the Atlanta Braves, with 86 strikeouts in 2010.
D’Amato is still perfect on the year, moving to 10-0 on the season which broke another College record on Sunday. His 10 wins is now the most in a single season for a Fisher pitcher, a record he previously held from his freshman year, at nine wins.
As of last week, D’Amato ranked ninth in the nation in strikeouts per game, averaging over 11 in every nine innings pitched. He also was 12th in the country for total number of strikeouts, totaling 80 before Sunday’s outing. The Canandaigua native’s nine victories, as of last week, were good enough for fifth nationally.
D’Amato currently leads the team in innings pitched (68.2), strikeouts (89), wins (10) and games started on the mound (12). He has the lowest ERA of all starters (1.83) and trails only reliever Tom Dybas in the category, who has pitched in 28 innings with a 1.29 ERA.
Fisher returns to action at 2 p.m. on Tuesday as it travels to play Penn State-Behrend in Erie, PA in its final regular-season game of 2012.
