LAKE MYRTLE, Fla. – The nationally-ranked St. John Fisher College baseball team fell to nationally-ranked Chicago-Concordia on Tuesday, 11-6, in the RussMatt Central Florida Invitational at Lake Myrtle Sports Park. With the loss, Fisher, which is ranked ninth in the latest D3baseball.com national poll, fell to 3-2 on the season, while No. 25 Chicago-Concordia improved to 5-2 in the early goings of the 2017 campaign.
The Cougars jumped out to an early lead in the top of the first inning with four runs on four hits with the big blow coming in the form of a two-run triple to center field.
After leaving two runners on base in each of the first three innings, Fisher broke through in the bottom of the fourth and turned a four-run deficit into a one-run lead. The Cardinals put their first two batters on as
Evan Ryan singled to center and quickly moved to third after a fielder's choice by
Allen Murphy coupled with an infield error set Fisher up with runners at second and third and no outs. After a strikeout, the runners would move up on a wild pitch as Ryan crossed home plate to make it 4-1. From there, Fisher's bats came to life as
Jack Trotman belted an RBI-single into center to make it a two-run game, 4-2. The next hitter,
Nate Roethel, stepped to the dish and boomed a two-run homerun to tie the game before
Scott Eisenmenger followed suit with a solo shot of his own to give Fisher a 5-4 edge.
The Cardinals were unable to hold the lead, however, as the Cougars came up with back-to-back singles with two outs to knot things up at 5-5 in the top of the fifth.
After scoreless sixth and seventh innings, the Cougars tagged Fisher's bullpen for six runs on six hits in the top of the eighth to open up an 11-6 lead late. The Cardinals got one back in the bottom of the eighth as
Antony Mantova came up with a pinch hit RBI-single that scored Murphy to make it 11-6, but Fisher was unable to complete the late-game comeback as the Cougars held on for the win.
Dominick Pisciotto started on the bump for Fisher but did not factor in the decision. Pisciotto went 4.2 innings and allowed five runs on seven hits with four walks and five strikeouts.
Dillan Wilkinson pitched 0.2 scoreless innings in relief before being lifted for
DJ Mendenhall who tossed 1.2 perfect innings.
Kevin Berge (0-1) was saddled with the loss after surrendering six runs (four earned) in two-thirds of an inning.
Trevor Rumsey was the fifth pitcher to take the ball for Fisher and scattered just two hits over the final 1.1 innings of play.
As a team, Fisher came away with eight hits led by Roethel's 2-for-4 with two RBI one run scored and a walk. Trotman, Eisenmenger, Mantova, Murphy, Ryan and
Malcolm Kelsey each produced one hit on the day.
The No. 9 Cardinals return to the diamond at 9:15 a.m. on Wednesday against Ohio Northern.
