The St. John Fisher College baseball team earned a pair of victories over visiting Stevens on Sunday.  The Cardinals held off a late rally to win 3-2 in the first game, and used a three-run fifth inning to top the Ducks 5-4 in the second game.

 

Fisher scored its first run of the game in the fifth inning, as Chad King (C.W. Baker/Plainsville) notched an RBI when he reached on a fielder’s choice, and earned a two-run lead when Dave Roth (Churchville-Chili/Rochester) hit a lead off triple, and scored off a Tim Spencer (Edgewood/Ashtabula, OH) RBI.

 

The Ducks got on the board in the fifth inning when a run scored on a balk, but the Cardinals answered in the bottom of the inning with an RBI single from freshman Ross Langevin (Liverpool/Liverpool) to hold a 3-1 lead.  Stevens managed another run in the sixth, but Justin Lutes (Charles O. Dickerson/Trumansburg) shut the Ducks down and earned a five-out save.

 

John Quartironi (Williamsville-East/Williamsville) went 3-for-3 in the win, while Roth, Langevin, Jon Gibbs (Pittsford Sutherland/Pittsford), and Spencer also picked up a hit.  Kevin Wing (Webster Schroeder/Webster) went 1-for-1 with a walk and two runs scored.  Greg McKeown (Avon/Avon), who pitched five and a third innings, scattered two hits and struck out five batters en route to the win.

 

The Ducks got things going early in the nightcap, scoring two runs in the top of the first inning.  Langevin answered with a leadoff single in the bottom of the inning, and later scored on a sacrifice fly from Roth.

 

Fisher manufactured another run in the second inning to tie the game as Quartironi singled to right field and stole second base to get into scoring position.  The sophomore outfielder advanced to third base on an Andrew Van Slyke (Vernon-Verona-Sherrill/Rome) single, and tagged up on a Wing fly ball to even the score.

 

The Fisher bats got hot in the fifth inning, with the Cardinals recording a pair of RBI singles and an RBI triple to take a 5-2 lead.  Langevin found a gap up the middle for a single, and scored after King hit a triple to left center.  Roth kept things rolling with another single to score King, and scored a run himself on a Robert Toland (Caledonia-Mumford/Caledonia) single.

 

Stevens scored a run in the sixth to pull to within two, and nearly won the game in the seventh, but Fisher held on for the 5-4 win.

 

Michael Craig (St. Joseph’s/Getzville) pitched five and a third innings for the Cardinals, allowing five hits and striking out three batters for his first win of the season.  Senior reliever Lutes earned his second save of the day, and fanned two batters.

 

Langevin went 3-for-4 and scored two runs, while King and Quartironi recorded two hits and one run scored each.  Roth was 1-for-2 with two RBI and one run scored.

 

Fisher (12-3-1 overall, 4-0 Empire 8) will take on SUNY Fredonia at 2 p.m. on Wednesday.