PITTSFORD, N.Y. – The starting pitchers of the St. John Fisher College baseball squad combined for 23 strikeouts as the Cardinals took two more conference games from the Elmira College Soaring Eagles on Saturday afternoon at Dugan Yard. Fisher improved to 21-4 overall and remained a perfect 12-0 in the Empire 8 with the sweep, while Elmira fell to 3-20 on the year and 1-8 in conference play.
 
FISHER 6, ELMIRA 0
 
The Cardinals got half their scoring done in the bottom of the first inning after Noah Campanelli got on base with a single, just to be sent home by Justin Graham who sliced a pitch to the right center field wall for a triple, scoring the first run of the day. The next batter sent Graham home on a sac fly, but not before Adam Zebrowski cracked a solo home run over the left field wall to put Fisher up by three.
 
Three scoreless innings went by before the home team got back on the board. After the leadoff batter was hit by a pitch and the following batter walked, they both moved over a bag on a wild pitch. Ryan Simmons came to the plate and connected with a pitch to right field, scoring both the runners and pushing the Fisher lead to 5-0.
 
Although he had allowed just one hit and struck out 11 up to that point, Fisher starting pitcher RJ Kuruts found himself in a jam in the top of the sixth inning after loading the bases on two singles and a walk. However, the senior proved why he's the ace of Brandon Potter's squad by striking out the next three batters to close the inning untainted.
 
A half frame later, Zebrowski flashed his big bat again as he linked on his second homer of the day, a moonshot that ricocheted off the trees in left center field.
 
Kuruts recorded three more outs in the top of the seventh, including two more strikeouts, to conclude the three-hit shutout. The Forest City, Pa. native moved to 7-1 on the year as he recorded a career-best 16 strikeouts and walked just one in his seven-inning complete game.
 
Campanelli, Zebrowski, and Simmons each recorded two hits in the affair while the latter two combined for four runs batted in. Graham grabbed a hit and an RBI while Luke Duffy rounded out the Fisher base hits with one and Brian Norsen batted in a run.
 
FISHER 12, ELMIRA 2 (Eight Innings)
 
The Cardinals jumped out early after the offense exploded to plate seven runs in the first two innings of the nightcap. Campanelli found himself on third base following his leadoff single and took advantage of a throwing error that extended the play. The sophomore Pittsford native managed to score just a batter later by sliding under the Elmira catcher's attempted tag on a fielder's choice.
 
Two Cardinals drew walks for Michael Beimel with the bases loaded who sent a two-RBI single up the middle of the diamond. A batter later, James Ward, Jr. turned on the afterburners for a two-RBI triple hit to the right center field fence and then made his way home on a wild pitch, pushing the lead to 6-0.
 
In the bottom of the following inning, Graham beat out a throw from the Soaring Eagles' shortstop for a base hit, then stole the next two bags for Zebrowski to plate him on a sac fly and take a 7-0 lead.
 
Although Elmira scored two runs of their own, the Cardinals added a few more runs to the board in the bottom of the eighth inning as Beimel drew a full-count walk to put a runner on base just for Ben Lavery to drive him in on a home run hit sharply over the left field fence to make it a 9-2 game. The top two of the Fisher order reached base for Zebrowski who added two more RBI to his performance on a base hit, before Duffy cranked a walk-off double to the wall, scoring the runner on base, and capping the night with an 12-2 final score.
 
Beimel and Ward led the offense with two hits and two RBI apiece, while Zebrowski and Lavery each nabbed a hit and plated a combined five runs. Campanelli, Graham, and Duffy rounded out the Cardinals' nine hits.
 
Hunter Walsh got the W on the bump after he threw seven and two-thirds innings. The sophomore struck out seven and allowed just three hits in his second win of the season. Joseph Tronetti faced two batters in his relief appearance as he walked one and struck the other out.  
 
Baseball gets a few days of rest before the team hosts the first of its five-game Empire 8 series with Utica College on Tuesday, April 27 at 3 P.M.