HOBOKEN, N.J. – Sophomore
Jim Dawson pitched a gem on Sunday and the nationally-ranked St. John Fisher College baseball team moved one step closer to clinching the top seed in the upcoming Empire 8 Championship as the No. 15 Cardinals dropped the Stevens Institute of Technology Ducks on Sunday, 9-2, at Dobbelaar Field. With the win, Fisher moved to 27-7 and 14-1 in the conference standings while the Ducks closed out their day at 17-21-1 overall and 9-9 in conference with a week to go before the regular season concludes.
Dawson moved to 6-0 with the win after going 7.1 innings and allowing just two runs on eight hits. Dawson struck out five before being relieved by
Dillan Wilkinson who tossed the final 1.2 innings without allowing a base runner.
Ryan Fahy staked Fisher to an early lead in just the top of the first inning after belting a solo home run over the center field fence to make it 1-0.
Stevens would tie the game in the bottom of the second inning before the Cardinals put up a three spot in the top of third after
Malcolm Kelsey launched a three-run shot to center for his second home run in as many days.
Leading by three runs, 4-1, in the fourth, Fisher would tack on three more runs to open up a 7-1 edge. After Fahy worked a walk,
Scott Eisenmenger and
Allen Murphy smacked back-to-back two-out jacks before the Ducks could get off the field.
In the eighth inning,
Thomas Pasquale and
Jack Vivinetto each drew a walk before Pasquale came around to score when
Evan Ryan clubbed a ground-rule double to give the Cardinals an 8-1 lead heading into the home half of the inning.
A leadoff homerun in the bottom of the eighth brought Stevens to within six runs, 8-2, but that was as close as it would come as Fisher added to its lead in the ninth when
Ryan Prevost singled as Eisenmenger came around to score on an wild throw by the Ducks' infield.
Fisher is back at it at 4 p.m. on Wednesday when it hosts Rochester Institute of Technology, which is receiving votes in the latest D3baseball.com national poll, at Dugan Yard.
