PITTSFORD, N.Y. – The St. John Fisher College baseball team earned two more wins in Empire 8 play on Saturday as the Cardinals swept visiting Houghton College at Dugan Yard. With the wins, Fisher improved to 15-4 overall and remained atop the conference standings at 6-0 while the Highlanders fell to 10-7 and 2-4, respectively.
FISHER 5, HOUGHTON 1
The Cardinals gave pitcher
Anthony Brophy all the run support he needed in the bottom of the first as
Justin Graham belted a two-run home run before the Highlanders could retire the side.
Fisher tacked on another run in the bottom of the second when
James Murphy led off with a triple and came around to score on an RBI groundout by
James Ward, Jr. to make it 3-0.
In the bottom of the fourth,
Adam Zebrowski, who was named to D3baseball.com's Team of the Week on Tuesday, showcased his power as the Albany native crushed a home run well over the centerfield fence to make it a four-run affair heading to the top of the fourth.
Trailing 4-0, Houghton got a run back after a leadoff double came around to score on a single, but the Highlanders were unable to get off the field in the bottom of the sixth with Fisher plating a two-out run to forge ahead, 5-1.
Brophy moved into second place on Fisher's all-time win list as the left-hander passed Hall-of-Famer Dan Jurik with 23 career wins. The North Tonawanda native threw a complete game and allowed just one run on four hits. He struck out seven in the win against just one walk.
FISHER 6, HOUGHTON 3
After being held in check through the first six innings of play, Fisher's bats came to life in the bottom of the seventh as the Cardinals sent 11 hitters to the dish and scored five runs in the process. After notching a strikeout to begin the inning, Houghton imploded with three straight Cardinals reaching base before a failed pickoff attempt at third resulted in two runs including one for Graham who broke the program's all-time record for runs scored in the process with 165.
With a runner still in scoring position,
Brian Norsen drilled an RBI-single and eventually came around to score when
Luke Duffy groundout out. With four runs already in, Fisher reloaded the bases and tacked on another run when
Ben Lavery drew a walk to push Zebrowski across home plate before Houghton could get off the field.
Fisher added to its lead in the bottom of the eighth after Noah Camapanelli began the frame with an opposite field single and scored when Graham connected on a single through the left side to make it 6-3.
Alec Teska started for Fisher, but did not factor in the decision despite throwing 6.2 strong innings. Teska allowed just three runs on five hits and finished with six strikeouts before being lifted for
Connor McHugh who earned the win in relief to move to 2-1 on the year. McHugh posted 2.1 shutout innings as the lefty scattered three hits and fanned two in the win.
The Cardinals and Highlanders will play again at 2 p.m. on Monday in another Empire 8 doubleheader with the venue switching to the Highlanders' field.
