AUBURNDALE, Fla. – The nationally-ranked St. John Fisher College baseball team earned two more wins on Sunday as the Cardinals swept Saint Joseph's College of Maine at the Lake Myrtle Sports Complex as part of the RussMatt Central Florida Invitational.  With the wins, Fisher, which is ranked 19th in the latest D3baseball.com national poll, improved to 5-0 on the year while the Monks slipped to 1-3 overall.

FISHER 3, ST. JOSEPH'S (MAINE) 1

RJ Kuruts (1-0) was all the Cardinals would need on the bump as the junior dazzled over seven innings.  The righty scattered six hits and allowed one unearned run while finishing with seven strikeouts to his credit to nail down his first win of the season.
After scoring an unearned run in the top of the first, the Monks would give two back in the bottom of the second as the Cardinals mashed three hits in the frame.  Justin Graham got the inning going with a leadoff double and moved to third when Brian Norsen laced a single to left.  With two on and no outs, Ryan Simmons drove in a run with a groundout before Jack Kelleher plated the go-ahead run with an RBI-single to right to make it 2-1.

The game remained a one-run affair until the bottom of the sixth as Fisher tacked on one run with one hit to hold a 3-1 edge.  Following another leadoff two-bagger from Graham, the senior shortstop would move up a base after the Monks dropped a popup to second that allowed Norsen to reach.  With runners at the corners and Simmons at the dish, St. Joseph's sent one to the backstop as both runners advanced with Graham scoring on the play.

Holding a two-run cushion in the top of the seventh, Kuruts shut the door on the Monks after striking out the leadoff hitter before inducing a game-ending double play.

FISHER 9, ST. JOSEPH'S (MAINE) 2

After falling behind 1-0 heading into the top of the fourth, Fisher got on the board with three runs on two hits to open up a two-run lead.  After retiring the first batter of the inning, the Monks yielded a walk to Graham before Norsen stepped in and mashed a two-run shot that cleared the left field fence.  From there, Stephen Edgett worked a hard-fought walk and would come around to score when Michael Beimel lifted an RBI-double to right before St. Joseph's could escape the frame.

In the top of the fifth, Fisher put up another crooked number with Graham delivering a rocket to right that resulted in a two-run triple to make it 5-1 before the senior came around to score a run of his own on a wild pitch that made it a five-run game.

After a scoreless home half of the fifth, the Cardinals struck again in the top of the sixth when Graham doubled home a run before Norsen followed suit with a run-scoring double of his own to stretch the Fisher lead to 8-1.

Trailing by eight runs in the bottom of the seventh after a Fisher sac fly, St. Joseph's would get a run back after a throwing error by the Cardinals' infield allowed a runner at third to advance.

Matthew Raudelunas started the game and lasted 1.2 innings with four strikeouts before being lifted following an injury.  Logan Persse (1-0) earned his first collegiate win after throwing 2.1 scoreless innings in the process.  Connor McHugh came on and threw two no-hit innings with three Ks before Dillan Wilkinson came on to throw the seventh.

The Cardinals are right back in action at 9:15 a.m. on Monday as they take on Ohio Northern at Lake Myrtle Sports Complex as part of the RussMatt Central Florida Invitational.