AUBURNDALE, Fla. – Senior Antony Mantova belted a three-run walk-off home run on Saturday as the nationally-ranked St. John Fisher College baseball team began the RussMatt Central Florida Invitational with an 11-8 win over Cabrini University.  Fisher, which is ranked 19th in the latest D3baseball.com national poll, improved to 3-0 with the win while the Cavaliers slipped to 5-5 overall.

Cabrini got the scoring started in the top of the first when a leadoff double came around to score to make it 1-0.

Still trailing by a run in the bottom of the fourth, Fisher answered with two runs of its own on four hits.  After a flyout to center to start the inning, Justin Graham lifted a one-out double and moved to third base when Brian Norsen singled.  With two on and one away, Ryan Simmons drove in a run with a groundout to the left side before Luke Duffy singled home Norsen to make it 2-1.

Following a scoreless top of the fifth, Fisher put together a big inning in the home half of the frame after loading the bases before an out had been recorded.  With three on, Graham singled in a run before Norsen delivered the big blow in the form of a two-run single that scored both Thomas Pasquale and Allen Murphy who had each walked earlier in the inning.

Trailing 5-1 in the top of the seventh, Cabrini was able to plate four runs on four hits with the big blowing coming in a three-run homer to knot the game at 5-5 heading to the bottom of the inning.

With the score knotted at 5-5, Simmons drove in the go-ahead RBI with a sacrifice fly to left, but the lead wouldn't hold as the Cavaliers scored one run in the top of the eighth before delivering a two-run shot in the ninth to hold an 8-6 edge.

Trailing by two with three outs left in play, Fisher strung together back-to-back singles from Norsen and Simmons before Michael Beimel walked to load the bases with one out.  With one down and no base open, Noah Campanelli worked an RBI-walk to keep the bases juiced before a wild pitch sent Simmons scurrying home to leveled the score at 8-8.

With the game tied and the winning run in scoring position for Fisher, Mantova stepped to the dish and uncorked a no-doubt-about-it shot that sailed well over 400 feet and cleared the fence to lift Fisher an 11-8 win.

The Cardinals banged out 13 hits in the win with Norsen leading the way with three base hits and a pair of RBI.  Mantova had three RBI on the day and a pair of hits while Graham and Beimel each finished the day 2-for-4 at the plate. 

Senior Anthony Brophy started on the hill for Fisher, but did not factor in the decision despite going 6.0 innings and allowing just one run on six hits with three strikeouts.  Brandon Roberts pitched one-third of an inning and was saddled with four runs (two earned) on three hits before being lifted in favor of Cole Hedden who nailed down two outs without giving up a run.  Tim Geissel (1-0) earned the win in relief after the lefty went two innings and allowed three runs (two earned) on four hits to go along with a pair of Ks.

Fisher is back in action at 3:30 on Sunday as it plays a doubleheader against Saint Joseph's College of Maine in Auburndale, Fla.