WAYNE, N.J. – The nationally-ranked St. John Fisher College baseball team suffered a pair of setbacks on Saturday afternoon as the Cardinals, who are ranked 20th in the latest D3baseball.com national poll, fell to host William Paterson at Jeff Albies Field. With the losses, Fisher moved to 1-2 on the year while the Pioneers improved to 7-1.
WILLIAM PATERSON 5, No. 20 FISHER 1
After a 1-2-3 top of the first inning, William Paterson was able to plate a run in the home half of the frame after belting three hits and taking advantage of two Fisher errors to jump ahead, 1-0.
The Pioneers struck again in the bottom of the second with two more runs including a two-run triple to make it a three-run affair.
The lead remained 3-0 until the bottom of the fifth when the home team put a runner at second courtesy of another error before doubling in an unearned run for a 4-0 cushion.
Trailing by four runs in the top of the seventh, Fisher scored its only run of the game when
Patrick Kravitz worked a work and came around to score on an RBI-single through the left side off the bat of
Noah Campanelli to make it 4-1. From there, the Pioneers tacked on another run in the bottom of the eighth before closing the door in the ninth for a 5-1 win.
Alec Teska (0-1) was saddled with the loss after allowing four runs (three earned) on seven hits over five frames.
Connor McHugh threw 2.1 innings and let in one run on three hits with a pair of strikeouts.
Logan Persse recorded the final two outs for Fisher.
WILLIAM PATERSON 8, No. 20 FISHER 4
The Pioneers got on the board first after plating an unearned run in the bottom of the first. Following a scoreless second inning, Fisher found a rhythm at the dish with two runs on two hits with
Ben Lavery and
James Murphy each driving in a run to make it 2-1.
Trailing by a run in the home half of the third, William Paterson countered with two runs of its own after coming up with three hits before Fisher could retire the side.
After holding the Cardinals at bay in the top of the fourth, the Pioneers tacked on two more runs in the bottom of the inning, but were unable to get off the field quickly in the top of the fifth as Fisher pushed two more runs across with Lavery driving in a pair after belting a two-run double.
Clinging to a 5-4 lead in the bottom of the sixth, the Pioneers afforded themselves some breathing room as Fisher committed three errors in the inning resulting in an 8-4 advantage for the home team.
Facing a four-run gap with three outs left in play, Fisher looked to chip away.
Evan Bowers led off the top of the seventh with a single and moved into scoring position when Lavery singled to center. With two on and two away, Murphy ripped a double down the right field line that scored a run before William Paterson retired the side on an 8-5 win.
Russell Dunlap (1-1) took the ball for Fisher and yielded three runs (two earned) on five hits over three innings.
Christian Maloney was tagged for four runs (three earned) over two innings of work before
Tim Geissel entered in the sixth where he surrendered a run over an inning.
The Cardinals and Pioneers will close out their three-game set at 12 p.m. on Sunday at Jeff Albies Field.
