ROCHESTER, N.Y. – The St. John Fisher College baseball was unable to hold on to a late inning lead as the Cardinals fell to Rochester Institute of Technology, 8-5, on Thursday in a non-conference tilt at Tiger Stadium.  The loss puts Fisher, which is receiving votes in the latest D3baseball.com national poll, at 25-12 while the Tigers climbed to 16-13-1 on the year.

Fisher was poised for a breakout inning in the top of the third after loading the bases with just one out, but the Tigers were able to escape the jam and keep the game scoreless heading into the home half of the frame.  In the bottom of the third, RIT was able to get on the board with a run after coming away with a two-out infield single to hold a slim lead.

The Cardinals answered in the next inning as Justin Graham looped a double to the opposite field before coming around to score on an RBI-single by Victor Konstantinovsky to level things up at 1-1.  The tie would be short-lived, however, as the home team scored two more run on two hits in the fifth to hold a two-run edge, 3-1.

In the top of the sixth, Fisher manufactured a run as Ryan Simmons drew a leadoff walk before moving to second when Allen Murphy singled through the right side.  With two on and no outs, Konstantinovsky moved the runners up with a sacrifice bunt before Ryan Brown drove in a run with a groundout to pull the Cardinals to within one run, 3-2.

Fisher struck again in the seventh with two runs as Murphy blasted a two-run double to right that scored both Simmons and Thomas Pasquale to turn a one-run deficit into a one-run lead.

Trailing late in the game and facing one of the Region's top bullpens, RIT quickly loaded the bases in the bottom of the seventh with back-to-back walks followed by a hit-by-pitch.  Following a pitching change, the Tigers cleared the bases with a grand slam to open up a 7-4 lead before adding another run on a double to left to head to the eighth with an 8-4 advantage.

The visitors got one back in the top of the eighth as Graham drove in Stephen Edgett who had tripled to left, but that was as close as the Cardinals would get as the Tigers closed the door in the ninth to earn the non-conference decision.

Freshman Tim Geissel started for the Cardinals and went five innings overall.  Geissel allowed three runs on five hits and tallied a pair of strikeouts before being relieved in favor of Jack Delaney who moved to 3-1 with the loss.  Delaney yielded three runs in an inning that included three walks.  Dillan Wilkinson gave up two runs (one earned) over an inning while RJ Kuruts tossed a perfect eighth inning with two strikeouts to his name.

The Cardinals will look to right the ship at 3 p.m. on Friday when they host Stevens Institute of Technology at Dugan Yard in an Empire 8 contest.