The Matchup is Set: It'll be Ithaca vs. St. John Fisher in the E8 Baseball Championship
Top-seeded Ithaca impressed once again in a shutout win, as they've yet to allow a run in two games this weekend. St. John Fisher, meanwhile, had to overcome a loss and regrouped nicely to defeat Stevens to advance to the finals of tomorrow's Empire 8 Conference Baseball Championship. Here's how Friday's action played out at Cornell's Hoy Field -
#1 Ithaca 4, #3 St. John Fisher 0 | BOXSCORE
For the second consecutive game, No. 25 Ithaca fired a shutout in the E8 Tournament as the Bombers blanked Fisher, 4-0, at Cornell's Hoy Field on Friday afternoon to advance to tomorrow's final. Ithaca is now 30-7 on the season and has won 11 straight games. .
Senior
Jake Binder was the story as the righty hurled his third shutout of the season to improve to 7-3. Binder scattered nine hits in the outing with two strikeouts and stranded 11 Fisher runners, including eight in scoring position.
Ithaca got on the board in the top of the fourth inning to take a 1-0 lead on a ringing double off the bat of junior
Buzz Shirley to the left-center gap with two outs. Senior
Sam Little came around to score from first base after he reached on a fielder's choice. Ithaca extended its lead to 3-0 in the top of the fifth inning on a two-out, two-run double to left-center by senior
Webb Little to plate
Jack Lynch and
Garrett Snyder.
The double from Webb Little moved him into elite company at Ithaca as he became just the fifth Bomber to reach 200 career hits.
In the top of the ninth, Ithaca added another run to its lead as
Matt Carey blooped a single into the left-center gap to bring home Shirley to give the Bombers a 4-0 advantage.
Binder closed out the shutout with a pop up to short after the Cardinals placed a pair of runners in scoring position on a single and double. The Bombers will look to clinch an automatic bid to the NCAA Championship tomorrow at 10 a.m. A winner-take-all game will be played after that should the Bombers lose the morning contest.
#3 St. John Fisher 4, #2 Stevens 3 | BOXSCORE
Freshman pitcher
Brandon Roberts was the story as he entered the game in the top of the fifth and proceeded to shut the Ducks down the rest of the way, allowing just three hits over five innings to propel the Cardinals into tomorrow's championship round.
Stevens opened the scoring by plating three runs in the top of the fourth after coming up with a pair of hits including a two-run double to right center to take an early 3-0 advantage.
The Cardinals' bats would come to life in the bottom half of the inning, however, as Fisher stormed back to take a 4-3 lead courtesy of four hits in their half of the inning.
Thomas Pasquale singled to right and moved to second when
Allen Murphy was hit by a pitch. With two on and one away,
Ryan Simmons loaded the bases with a single to left before
Michael Beimel plated the team's first run of the day with a sacrifice fly to left, making it 3-1 Stevens.
From there,
Jake Hewitt stepped in and knocked a two-run double to left to tie the game up. As the inning continued,
Justin Graham pushed the go-ahead run across the plate with a single to center to give Fisher the 4-3 advantage.
Fisher will now take on top-seeded Ithaca tomorrow morning at 10am. The Cardinals will need to win the first game to force a winner-take-all championship final.
2019 Empire 8 Baseball Championship Schedule
Thursday, May 9
Game 1 - No. 1 Ithaca 5, No. 4 Utica 0
Game 2 - No. 3 St. John Fisher 8, #2 Stevens 4
Game 3 - No. 3 Stevens, No. 4 Utica
Friday, May 10
Game 4 - #1 Ithaca 4, #3 St. John Fisher 0
Game 5 - #3 St. John Fisher 4, #2 Stevens 3
Saturday, May 11
Game 6 - No. 1 Ithaca vs. #3 St. John Fisher | 10am
Game 2 - If necessary | 1:30pm
Sunday, May 12 - Rain date if necessary
- Information for this release provided by the athletic communication staffs at Fisher and Ithaca -
ABOUT THE EMPIRE 8 CONFERENCE
The members of the Empire 8 Conference are committed first and foremost to the pursuit of academic excellence and the league is regarded as an outstanding NCAA Division III conference. The membership has distinguished itself among its peer group for its quality institutions, spirited and sportsmanlike competition, outstanding services and highly ethical policies and practices. Its commitment to serve the educational needs of its student-athletes is the hallmark of the E8. For more on the Empire 8 visit
www.empire8.com and
https://youtu.be/wzL4HcDoUUQ