Baseball | 5/27/2021 9:25:00 PM
MARIETTA, Ohio – The nationally-ranked and fourth-seeded St. John Fisher College Cardinals fell victim to a walk-off loss on Thursday against No. 17 North Carolina Wesleyan in the opening round of the NCAA Division III Regional Championship at Don and Sue Schaly Field hosted by Marietta College. With the loss, Fisher had its 10-game winning streak snapped and fell to 31-6 on the season while the Battling Bishops improved to 33-8 and advanced to the winner's bracket where they will meet No. 4 Marietta at 6 p.m. on Friday night.
The Cardinals will put their postseason fate on the line at 2:30 p.m. on Friday when they take on No. 7 Rowan University.
After belting a solo home run on the first pitch of the game, North Carolina Wesleyan was unable to put up a zero in the top of the second as Luke Duffy blasted a home run of his own to right to tie the game at one run aside.
The Cardinals struck again in the top of the third with one run on three hits to open up a 2-1 edge. Brian Norsen smacked a double off the wall in left and moved to third after Adam Zebrowski looped a single to shallow left. With two on and one down, Duffy collected his second RBI of the game with a single through the right side before the Battling Bishops could retire the side.
Leading by a run in the top of the fourth, Fisher added to its advantage after James Murphy drew a leadoff walk and moved into scoring position when Noah Campanelli beat out an infield single. With runners at first and second and one out showing on the scoreboard, Justin Graham stepped in and ripped a three-run bomb to deep right that made it 5-1 in the Cardinals' favor.
Facing a four-run gap, Wesleyan would get one back in the home half of the fourth, but was unable to get anything going after Fisher came up with a double play to limit the damage.
Both pitchers settled in and swapped zeroes over the next three innings until the Cardinals manufactured a run in the top of the eighth to hold a 6-2 lead. Patrick Kravitz led off the frame with a single and moved to second following an error by the Bishops' right fielder. After moving to third on a flyout from Campanelli, Kravitz scored when Graham drove in his fourth run of the game with a double down the right field line.
Trailing by four runs in the home half of the eighth, Wesleyan was aided by two Fisher errors that led to three runs and a pitching change for the Cardinals. After holding Fisher off the board in the top of the ninth, the home team drew a leadoff walk and moved into scoring position following a sacrifice bunt. From there, Wesleyan singled and drove in the tying run with a double to knot things at 6-6. With runners at the corners, Fisher intentionally walked the bases loaded before a hit by pitch allowed the winning run to cross home plate.
Anthony Brophy started on the mound and gave head coach
Brandon Potter 7.1 innings.He allowed five runs (three earned) on six hits and finished with seven strikeouts. Teska was hit with the loss and moved to 3-2 after allowing two runs over an inning.
Graham was 3-for-5 in the loss with four RBI and a run scored while Duffy drove in two and had two hits and two walks over five plate appearances.
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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
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