BALTIMORE, Md. – In a battle of nationally-ranked teams, the No. 24 St. John Fisher College baseball team opened the 2018 season on Saturday with a split at No. 8 Johns Hopkins as the Cardinals produced 11 runs in all. With the split, Fisher moved to 1-1 while the Blue Jays finished the day at 1-1 on the young season.
JOHNS HOPKINS 7, FISHER 1
After yielding a run in the home half of the second inning, Fisher tied the game in the top of the fourth after
Thomas Pasquale blasted a two-out triple to center before
Stephen Edgett drove him with a single to make it 1-1.
After a scoreless fifth inning, Johns Hopkins plated four runs on three hits in the bottom of the sixth after coming away with a bases-clearing triple with two outs to open up a 5-1 advantage.
The Blue Jays worked around a two-out double from
Allen Murphy in the top of the seventh before scoring two more runs in the home half of the inning with three more base knocks.
Anthony Brophy started on the hill for Fisher, but did not factor in the decision after going 5.0 innings and allowing one run on five hits with four strikeouts.
Kyle Chambers was tagged with the loss after surrendering four runs in two-thirds of an inning.
Alec Teska was saddled with two run on two hits before being lifted for
Jack Delaney who throw a scoreless inning in relief.
Pat Galer pitched the eighth inning and did not all a hit.
Pasquale was 2-for-4 at the dish with a run scored while Murphy had two hits in five at-bats.
Ryan Fahy and Edgett recorded one hit each.
In total, Fisher left seven runners on base and was unable to take advantage of the Blue Jays' six errors.
FISHER 10, JOHNS HOPKINS 4
Junior transfer
Jake Hewitt earned his first win of the season behind 5.0 scoreless innings in which he allowed just four hits and two walks. Hewitt fanned four in the win before giving way to
Dillan Wilkinson who tossed a perfect sixth.
RJ Kuruts took the mound in the seventh and allowed three runs on two hits while
Ryan Felske pitched the eighth and yielded one run on one hit. Murphy pitched the ninth and surrendered just one hit.
After four scoreless innings of play, Fisher broke through with three runs on two hits and one error in the top of the fifth. Edgett led off the frame with a single and came around to score when
Jack Vivinetto reached on an infield error and advanced to second. With a runner in scoring position and one out, Murphy stepped to the dish and cracked a two-run shot to left field to stake Fisher to a 3-0 lead.
The Cardinals would blow the game wide open in the top of the sixth with four more runs to hold a 7-0 lead. After a groundout to the right side,
Ryan Simmons took first after being hit by a pitch and moved to second as Edgett singled to center.
Ryan Brown loaded the bases after drawing a walk before Vivinetto laced a two-run single to left to plate both Edgett and
Rylan Baker, who entered as a pinch runner. As the inning continued,
Scott Eisenmenger drove in a pair with a two-run double to right center before Johns Hopkins could escape the inning.
The Blue Jays would get three runs back in the home half of the seventh after coming up with three hits including a three-run homer, but Fisher would get them all back in the top of the eighth with Eisenmenger driving in Vivinetto before
Justin Graham roped a two-run double to make it 10-3.
Johns Hopkins would cut the deficit to six runs in the bottom of the eighth, but Murphy took to the hill in the ninth and secured three quick outs to end the game.
Fisher had 10 hits in all including three extra base knocks. Eisenmenger was 2-for-5 at the plate with three RBI and a run scored while Vivinetto was 2-for-3 with two RBI and three runs scored. Edgett had two hits of his own while Murphy, Graham,
Antony Mantova and Pasquale had one hit apiece.
Fisher will return to the diamond at 2 p.m. on Saturday, March 3rd when it travels to Winter Haven, Fla. to take on Baldwin Wallace in the RussMatt Invitational. Fisher will play seven games in all from March 3-10 including tilts against No. 5 Umass-Boston and No. 6 Concordia-Chicago.
