WAYNE, N.J. – The nationally-ranked St. John Fisher College baseball team scored 15 runs on 14 hits, but fell victim to three home runs as the Cardinals were defeated by William Paterson, 23-15, at Jeff Albies Field.  With the loss, Fisher, which is ranked 20th in the latest D3baseball.com poll, fell to 1-3 on the year while the Pioneers improved to 8-1.

Noah Campanelli went 3-for-5 at the plate with two doubles, three RBI and two runs scored while Nick Lemire collected three at-bats in five plate appearances including a homerun, four RBI and two runs scored.  Michael Beimel had two hits on the day, two RBI and two runs to go along with a walk while Ben Lavery had a home run and four RBI.  Brian Norsen also went yard in the loss while Evan Bowers and Luke Duffy had one hit apiece.

The Cardinals used six pitchers in the loss with Michael Poirier allowing four runs over 1.1 innings to start.  Logan Persse (1-1) was hit with the loss after giving up four runs on four hits over two-thirds of a frame.  Anthony Lang faced three batters and surrendered three runs while Ryan O'Mara was tagged for seven runs over 1.1 frames.  Tim Geissel threw 2.2 innings and struck out four while allowing five runs while Joseph Tronetti pitched two perfect innings to close out the game.

The Cardinals got off to a hot start at the plate in the top of the first after scoring six runs on three hits with Camapanelli, Beimel and Lemire each driving in two runs.

The visitors tacked on another run in the top of the second when Campanelli smacked his second double of the day to score James Murphy who had singled up the middle earlier in the inning.

Leading by seven runs in the home half of the second, the wheels came off for Fisher as William Paterson sent 13 hitters to the plate and accounted for eight runs on six hits to take a one-run lead into the third.

After holding Fisher scoreless in the top of the frame, the Pioneers struck again with five more runs on the strength of four more hits to open up a 13-7 cushion.

Trailing by six, Fisher cut the deficit to three runs in the top of the fourth as Norsen clubbed a two-run homer before Campanelli scored on an error to make it 13-10.

As the game wore on, the home tea countered with four more runs in the bottom of the fourth before giving five runs back to Fisher in the top of the sixth with Lavery delivering the big blow in the form of a grand slam.

Facing a three-run gap in the bottom of the sixth, William Paterson came away with four more hits and three more runs before scoring two more in the next inning to secure a 23-15 win.

The Cardinals will look to right the ship later this week as they travel to Florida to take part in the annual RussMatt Central Florida Invitational.  Fisher will begin its five-game trip at 2:30 p.m. on Thursday against La Roche University in Auburndale, Fla.