Second-seeded St. John Fisher College snapped a scoreless tie with nine runs on 10 hits in the top of the eighth inning, while junior pitcher
Marc Iseneker allowed just three hits over nine innings, as the Cardinals came through with a 9-0 win over No. 6 Kean University on Thursday night at PNC Field in the NCAA Division III Mid-Atlantic Regional.
With the win, Fisher (36-11), ranked 25
th in the latest d3baseball.com poll, advances to the finals in the winner's bracket and will face the only other 2-0 team in the regional – U. Mass-Boston (30-14) – at 4:30 p.m. on Friday in Moosic, Pa.
Iseneker was on throughout the night, raising his record to 7-2 on the year. He struck out four batters in his second complete-game shutout of the season. Two of the three hits he allowed were bunt singles, before giving up a base-hit to left in the ninth inning.
Fisher totaled just four hits and didn't advance a runner to second through the first seven innings, but got things going in the eighth.
Cody Wiktorski singled to deep in the hole at short, while
Jack Trotman doubled down the line in right to put runners on second and third with one out. Senior
Mike Roman singled for the third time in the game, delivering a flare to right to score Wiktorski and pinch runner
Ryan Prevost, snapping the scoreless tie.
Sophomore
Scott Eisenmenger snapped out of a 1-for-15 funk with an RBI-single to left to make it 3-0.
Nate Roethel then jacked a home run to right, his first homer of the season, to put the Cardinals up 5-0.
The Cardinals weren't done. After a single from
Malcolm Kelsey and a walk to
Jack Vivinetto,
Evan Ryan chopped a double down the line in left to score a run. Witkorski then ripped a two-run single to put Fisher up 8-0, his second hit of the inning. Prevost capped the nine-run rally with a single to left-center to score Wiktorski.
Roman led Fisher with four hits, moving him into third place on the career list with 209. Kelsey, Ryan and Wiktorski each added two hits.
This is the third straight time Fisher has won its first two games in NCAAs.
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