Utica Tops Fisher in Game One of E8 Tournament
Pittsford, NY – The fourth-seeded Utica College baseball team tacked on five runs in the first inning and never looked back as the Pioneers upset top-seeded and host St. John Fisher College, 7-3, in game one of the Empire 8 Conference Championships on Thursday. Utica returns to action in the double elimination tournament on Friday when they take on either No.2 Stevens or No. 3 Ithaca in the winner's bracket at 1 p.m.
Utica senior pitcher
William Winsman (Palatine Bridge, NY/Canajoharie) put together the most clutch performance of his career as he pitched six full innings, scattered eight hits and three runs to put the Pioneers in position to defeat the Cardinals for the first time since 2011. Utica ace
Joshua Webb (Verona, NY/VVS) came on in a rare relief appearance and allowed just two hits over the course of three innings, while striking out four, to close the door and earn the save for the Pioneers.
Utica's five run first inning was sparked by a bases loaded triple from the bat of cleanup hitter
Matthew DeMartino (Oceanside, NY/Oceanside) to give the Pioneers an early 3-0 lead. DeMartino scored on the next at-bat as he was driven in by the conference's leading hitter, freshman
Tim Quinlan (Monroe, CT/Masuck). DeMartino finished the day with a 2-for-5 effort at the plate, while Quinlan also went 2-for-5 and scored twice to go along with an RBI. The Pioneers capped the first inning with their fifth run as freshman shortstop
Christian Tiffin (Sherrill, NY/VVS) added an RBI single, scoring Quinlan, to hand the Pioneers the early 5-0 lead. Quinlan extended his hit streak to seven games and he now has at least one hit in 13 of his last 14 games played.
Fisher got two runs back in the next five innings to make it a 5-2 ballgame headed into the sixth inning. The Pioneers earned one more run in the sixth inning and Tiffin was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded in the seventh inning to hand the Pioneers a 7-3 lead that they would not relinquish.
Fisher threatened in the bottom of the seventh by getting its first two batters on base in the middle of their lineup, but Webb came back with two straight strikeouts and a groundout to pull the Pioneers out of the jam as they preserved the 7-3 lead. Webb mowed down Fisher 1-2-3 in the bottom of the eighth and got 3-of-4 batters out in the ninth to help the Pioneers advance into Friday's winner's bracket.
Utica's record improved to 9-23-1 overall and they snapped a 19 game losing streak to the Cardinals that dated back five years. Fisher, which is receiving votes in the d3baseball.com national poll, saw its record fall to 31-10 on the year.
UC's
JT Ross (New York Mills, NY/New York Mills) finished the day with a 1-for-5 effort, while
Vincent Burillo (Montgomery, NY/Valley Central ) went 2-for-4 at the plate with one run scored. Outfielder
Brandon Thomas (West Winfield, NY/Mount Markham) continues to snap out of a slump as he went 2-for-4 at the plate, while freshman catcher
Matthew Fitzgerald (Clinton, NY/Notre Dame) added a 1-for-2 day with two walks and one run scored. Tiffin capped an outstanding day with a 2-for-3 effort at the dish to go along with two RBIs.
Fisher's Malcolm Kelsey went 2-for-4 and scored once, while senior shortstop Mike Roman also went 2-for-4.