Box Score

The St. John Fisher College baseball team walked-off with an 8-7 win over visiting Rochester Institute of Technology on Wednesday afternoon at Dugan Yard. It was the Cardinals fourth walk-off in nine games and the victory pushed their win streak to 12 games, giving them a 28-8 record.

In the bottom of the 11^th, RIT decided to intentionally walk Nicholas Flemister and Brad Rush to load the bases with one out with Ben Bostick already on third base. The Tigers then brought in their left fielder as a fifth infielder, the same tactic that worked for them in the ninth inning, but Matthew Cahill singled through the three-infielder left side to drive in Bostick for the win.

Cahill faced the same situation with one out in the ninth after the Cardinals came back from a 7-5 deficit in that inning, but the extra fielder dove to deny Cahill of the game-winner at that juncture, throwing out Matt Klock at the plate. Chris Roeder came up with two outs and grounded a high chopper to the second baseman on a play where he appeared to beat the throw at first, but the umpire punched him out to move the game to extra innings.

Trailing 7-5 in the ninth, the Cardinals got Peter Krysztof on as he was hit by a pitch, and then Sean Osterman grounded back to the pitcher but an errant throw to first allowed Osterman to reach and advance to second with Krysztof moving to third. Bostick then grounded out to drive in Krysztof and make it a one run affair. Klock then singled through the right side to score Osterman and tie the game at 7-7.

Fisher was in the lead or tied for the first six innings until a four-run seventh inning for RIT put them ahead. A leadoff double was magnified as the Tigers tried to sacrifice bunt the runner to third, and when pitcher Aaron Benton fielded the ball he had a shot at the lead runner. Benton threw to Krysztof at third, but Krysztof mistakenly thought it was a force out and did not lay a tag on the runner, rendering everyone safe. Fisher led 5-3 at this point but after the four-run RIT seventh, it trailed 7-5 until the bottom of the ninth.

George Weber got the start on the mound but only lasted two innings, facing two batters in the third before being relieved by Jordan Doroshenko. Weber gave up three hits and two walks which led to two earned runs.

Doroshenko worked four innings of two-hit ball, allowing an earned run while striking out two.

Benton and Tim Sylvester pieced together the seventh inning before Thomas Dybas came in for the eighth inning. Dybas went four innings in relief, giving up three hits and no runs while fanning a batter to earn his second victory of the season.

The Cardinals top four hitters in the lineup, Karnyski, Krysztof, Osterman and Bostick, each finished with two hits as did Nicholas Flemister. Klock and Brad Rush led the team with two RBI apiece.

Cahill finished 1-for-2 with the game-winning RBI after coming in as a defensive replacement at third base in the ninth as Krysztof moved to the outfield and Flemister went behind the dish because of pinch hitting in the eighth.

The Cardinals will return to action at 1 p.m. on Saturday as they host a doubleheader against Stevens Institute of Technology in the final Empire 8 Conference series of the season. Fisher and Ithaca College stand atop the Empire 8 with 11-4 records, with the Bombers having a three-game series with Utica College this weekend.