Baseball | 2/19/2020 9:02:00 AM

PITTSFORD, N.Y. – Baseball is back and the St. John Fisher College Cardinals are set to begin their 33rd season on Saturday when they head to Baltimore, Md. to take on nationally-ranked Johns Hopkins University in a doubleheader at Babb Field.

The expectations are high this season as the Cardinals, who are receiving votes in both the Collegiate Baseball and D3baseball.com Preseason Polls, return nearly everyone from a team that reached the Empire 8 title game last year and finished with 29 wins.  Fisher is coming off a season that saw it post the highest batting average of any program in the New York Region after hitting .326 as a team during the 2019 campaign.  Head coach Brandon Potter, who enters his 11th season at the helm and owns 299 career victories, will roll out a lineup that led the Empire 8 in average, hits (486), doubles (117), triples (15), RBI (319), slugging percentage (.487), on-base percentage (.413) and runs scored (355).

Potter will have no shortage of talent to call upon as the Cardinals are set to return 10 players who were named All-Conference by the Empire 8 a season ago, five of whom would go on to be named All-Region by the American Baseball Coaches Association and D3baseball.com including senior Allen Murphy who was named the New York Region and Empire 8 Player of the Year following a prodigious junior season. 

Murphy, who was named a consensus All-American last year, was among the nation's leaders after hitting .394 on the year with 67 base hits, 15 doubles, two triples, nine dingers and 42 RBI in 43 games.  Murphy slugged .655 on the year and scored 47 runs overall.  The Richburg native, who was one of three Cardinals to be named a Preseason All-American by D3baseball.com earlier this month, also showed promise on the pitching mound after going 2-3 with 20 strikeouts over 20.1 innings of work.

Murphy isn't the only All-American in the lineup, though.  A Preseason All-America honoree this year and a three-time First-Team All-Conference selection, shortstop Justin Graham is back in the six-hole after racking up a .350 average with 62 hits, 14 doubles, a team-leading five triples, 22 RBI and 48 runs scored.  Graham, who needs just 16 hits to become the seventh player in team history to surpass 200 career hits, is one of the smoothest shortstops in the region as he made just nine errors in 188 chances. 

Senior outfielder Antony Mantova burst onto the scene last year after hitting .377 on the season.  Mantova, who was also named a Preseason All-American entering the 2020 campaign and was a First-Team All-Region selection last year, clubbed 60 hits including 10 doubles, three triples and four home runs over 43 games.  The Albany native pushed 42 runs across home plate and scored 44 of his own.

Rounding out the infield is Ryan Simmons and Thomas Pasquale – both of whom were named All-Region last year.  Simmons is coming off a season where he batted .338 and accounted for 54 hits, 15 doubles, 41 RBI and 34 runs scored while Pasquale mashed the ball last year and hit .362 with a program-record 21 doubles.  Pasquale, who needs 13 doubles to become the Cardinals' all-time leader, paced the team with 47 RBI and produced 63 hits in 43 games.

Joining Mantova in the outfield is centerfielder Stephen Edgett who was named All-Conference by the Empire 8 for the second consecutive season in 2019.  Edgett, who was named a Player to Watch by Collegiate Baseball Newspaper this year, is coming off a season that saw the Webster product hit .301 with 49 hits, a career-best 20 doubles, four homers and 31 runs driven in.  One of the top outfielders in the region, Edgett had 100 putouts last year and recorded two assists.

Perhaps the team's biggest weapons can be found in its pitching squad as the Cardinals have both depth and experience.  Senior lefty Anthony Brophy is coming off another stellar season that saw the North Tonawanda native go 6-1 on the hill with a 2.86 earned run average.  Brophy, who was named D3baseball.com Rookie of the year back in 2017, threw 34.2 innings of work last year and allowed just 28 hits.  Brophy held opposing hitters to a paltry .212 batting average and tallied 31 strikeouts in all.

Joining Brophy atop the rotation will be Kenneth Westbrook, RJ Kuruts and Matthew Raudelunas – all of whom are capable of giving the team length.  Westbrook is coming off a freshman season that netted him the Empire 8 Rookie of the Year award as he went 6-0 with a 3.86 earned run average.  Westbrook logged 46.2 innings and finished with 37 strikeouts.  His best start of the year came on April 18th when he allowed just one hit over 6.0 innings in a shutout of Canton.

Kuruts is set to return after a successful summer season in one of the top leagues in the country.  The junior finished his sophomore campaign with a 4-4 record after making 14 appearances in all.  The team's undisputed workhorse, Kuruts ranked second in the Empire 8 with 76.1 innings under his belt.  He fanned 64 hitters on the year and was credited with two complete games.

Raudelunas is also back for his junior year after making nine starts last season where he struck out 50 hitters in 38.1 innings.  The Madison, N.J. native could be one of the top pitchers in Division III as his fastball and slider are at times overpowering.

The Cardinals also feature a loaded bullpen led by junior lefty Tim Geissel who was named First-Team All-Conference in 2019 after leading the team with five saves.  Over 18 appearances, Geissel owned a 2.39 ERA and had 29 strikeouts over 37.2 total innings.  Sophomore Brandon Roberts is coming off an All-Conference season that saw the reliever go 3-0 with a 1.44 earned run average.  Roberts, who held opposing hitters to a minuscule .181 average over 25.0 innings, finished the year with 24 strikeouts.

Potter will also turn to two former All-Conference relievers in Dillan Wilkinson and Jack Delaney.  Wilkinson was named First-Team All-Conference in both 2017 and 2018 while Delaney was tabbed Second-Team All-Empire 8 as a freshman in 2018.

The pitching staff is heavily aided by its All-Conference backstop in Michael Beimel as the St. Mary's, Pa. native all but eliminated the running game in 2019.  Beimel led all Empire 8 catchers after gunning down 17 runners last season.  The junior catcher is handy with the bat as well after hitting .312 with 43 hits and 29 RBI.

Fisher also has high hopes for some touted newcomers including Noah Campanelli and Hunter Walsh who helped guide McQuaid Jesuit to a state championship last year after the latter pitched a no-hitter.  Potter also expects freshman Brian Norsen to make an immediate impact along with Adam Zebrowski who returns to the lineup after missing the bulk of last year to injury.

After taking on the No. 14 Bluejays, the Cardinals will make their way to Florida for 10 games as part of the annual RussMatt Central Florida Invitational. 

Following their foray in the Sunshine State, the Cardinals will return north to take on Neumann University in a doubleheader in Alston, Pa. before traveling to Kean University the following afternoon for another non-conference tilt.

Six days later, the team will continue its swing through Pennsylvania beginning with another tough non-conference opponent in Penn State Harrisburg as the Lions look to repeat a historic 2019 season that saw them reach the NCAA Regional Round.  Following that doubleheader, Fisher will travel to York to take on the Spartans in a nine-inning affair.

After nearly a month of being on the road, the Cardinals are set to open play at Dugan Yard on March 25th as they welcome Keuka College to campus for a single game.  The home stand will be short-lived, however, as the Cardinals head to Houghton College on Saturday, March 28th to begin Empire 8 play with a three-game set against the Highlanders. 

From there, Fisher can unpack its bags as the Cardinals are scheduled to play their next nine games at home beginning with a cross-town showdown against The College at Brockport on March 31st.  The next afternoon, Fisher welcomes Oswego State to town as the Lakers are coming off their third consecutive appearance in the NCAA Championship in 2019.  Two days later on April 3rd, Fisher will dive back into conference play as Utica College makes its way west for three games before the Cardinals host RIT on April 7th.  The home stand comes to an end with Elmira College as the Cardinals and Soaring Eagles will duke it out over three games beginning on April 10th.

Fisher will complete its home-and-away series with Oswego three days later on April 14th and will then make its way to Utica to take on the Pioneers in a doubleheader on April 18th.
On April 21st, Fisher will head across town to play at Clark V. Whited Complex at Brockport before facing RIT the next afternoon in Henrietta.

Three days later, the Cardinals host Houghton College in a doubleheader and will continue their three-game, season-long series with RIT on Wednesday, April 29th as the teams will play a non-conference, nine-inning game at Frontier Field.

The Cardinals are set to close out the regular season on the road with a twin-billing at Elmira on Saturday, May 2nd.

The Empire 8 Championship, which will be played at the highest overall seed, will begin on May 7th.

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