Baseball | 5/7/2022 7:35:35 PM
Top-seed St. John Fisher College (28-14) and No. 2 Utica University (21-16) will meet for the 2022 Empire 8 Baseball Championship after bith earning wins in game three of the E8 Semiffinal round on Saturday, May 7. The Cardinals defeated No. 4 seed Elmira College (13-24-1) 14-2, while Urtica out-lasted No. 3 Russell Sage (14-27-1), 11-7.
St. John Fisher will host Utica in the best-of-three E8 Championship round starting with a doubleader at noon on Friday, May 13 . If necessary, game three will be Saturday, May 14 at 1 p.m. The two teams are meeting in the Empire 8 Championship for the second straight season.
GAME 3 - NO. 1 ST. JOHN FISHER 14, NO. 4 ELMIRA 2
The top-seeded Cardinals defeated fourth-seeded Elmira College, 14-2, on Saturday afternoon in a winner-take-all contest at Dugan Yard.
After striking out the side in the top of the first, Fisher came to bat in the home half of the inning and proceeded to hang five runs on Elmira courtesy of five hits.
Ben Lavery got the inning going with a single to center before
Michael Beimel moved him to third base with a double. With two on and one away,
Nick Lemire walked to load the bases before
Brian Norsen smacked a double that plated two runs. As the inning continued,
Luke Duffy lifted a sacrifice fly before
James Murphy and
Ethan Perry each collected an RBI to make it 5-0.
Fisher struck again in the second inning after Norsen stepped in with two runners aboard and crushed a three-run home run to left that made it an eight-run affair.
Leading 8-0 in the bottom of the fourth, Fisher tacked onto its lead as
Noah Campanelli delivered a solo shot to left-center before a double off Duffy's bat plated Beimel who had doubled earlier in the frame.
Facing a 10-run gap, Elmira got on the board in the top of the fifth with a pair of runs on four hits, but was unable to put together a quick inning as Campanelli drove in his second run of the game with a single to center to make it 11-2 heading to the sixth.
From there, Fisher added three more runs to its lead in the bottom of the eight as Duffy popped his second home run of the series to make it 14-2.
Norsen was 3-for-5 with a home run, a double and five RBI while Duffy had a homer and a double paired with five runs batted in. Murphy had three hits in the win while Perry, Beimel, Lavery and Campanelli each had two hits in all.
Michael Poirier pitched two innings to open the game and finished with four strikeouts on his line while
Ryan O'Mara (7-0) got the win in relief after yielding two runs on four hits over four frames.
Tim Geissel pitched two scoreless innings and
Christian Maloney netted two strikeouts in a scoreless ninth.
GAME 3 - NO. 2 UTICA 11, NO. 3 RUSSELL SAGE 7
Utica held off a strong comeback attempt by the Russell Sage Gators to win game three of the Empire 8 Tournament Semifinals, 11-7, and advance to its second consecutive conference championship.
The game started with a thrilling play by
Joe Crossley (Marcy, NY/Whitesboro) in center field and
Matthew Fitzgerald (Clinton, NY/Notre Dame) at home. With one away and a runner at third following a triple, Crossley made a catch on a shallow line drive to him. With the runner from third tagging, Crossley came up throwing to Fitzgerald who caught the ball on a one-hop off the pitchers mound and positioned himself in front of the plate to slap the tag and keep the game scoreless.
The Pioneers used that momentum in their first at-bats. With two aboard and one away,
Joe Battista (South Glens Falls, NY/South Glens Falls) smoked the first pitch he saw to the right center field gap to bring Crossley home from second and move
Dom Fasolo (Whitesboro, NY/Whitesboro ) to third.
While Sage evened the game in the top of the 2nd on an error, Utica tallied three more in the bottom half.
Brendan May (McGraw, NY/McGraw) started the inning with a triple and scored easily on a Fitzgerald double down the right field line. Fitzgerald scored on a
Shamariah McCullough (Brooklyn, NY/Nazareth Regional) sacrifice bunt attempt that turned into a throwing error by the third baseman. McCullough then scored on a bunt single by
Michael Muentener (Fairview, NJ/Cliff Side Park) to make it a 4-1 game after two.
Pioneers starter
Tyler Catalfamo (Albany, NY/Colonie) got out of the top of the 3rd inning on a heads-up unassisted double play by May at shortstop. With runners on first and second with one away, May gloved a line drive back at him and then beat the runner on second back to the base to double up the Gators.
The sides traded runs in the 3rd, 4th and 5th innings as the game entered the bottom of the 6th with Utica up 6-3. A fielding error at shortstop brought home the team's seventh run before Battista roped another two-RBI double to right field to extend Utica's lead to 9-3.
However, Sage battled back in the top of the 7th. The team rattled off two runs on five hits before the first out could be recorded which turned out to be a ground ball double play that left a runner on third base for the Gators. May came on to pitch in relief of
Brian Dinnen (Cortlandt Manor, NY/Walter Panas) and while the Gators scored two more in the inning, May was able to limit the damage to enter the bottom half up 9-7.
The Pioneers were able to score twice more in the 7th thanks to a one-out RBI single by Fitzgerald that scored May from second base and a sacrifice bunt by
Steve Sclafani (Farmingdale, NY/Farmingdale HS) to bring home McCullough from third.
May led the team at the plate going 5-for-5 with an RBI and two runs scored. He also tossed 2.1 scoreless innings to finish the game. Muentener, Fasolo and Battista all had two-hit outings as well. Battista also led the team with three RBI while Fitzgerald had two.
2022 Empire 8 Baseball Championship Schedule
Empire 8 Semifinal Round (Best-of-3, Doubleheader, May 6-7) - ST. JOHN FISHER WINS SERIES, 2-1
GAME 1 – #4 Elmira College defeated #1 St. John Fisher College, 6-5 – BOX SCORE
GAME 2 – #1 St. John Fisher College defeated #4 Elmira College, 31-2 – BOX SCORE
GAME 3 – 1 St. John Fisher College defeated #4 Elmira College, 14-2 – BOX SCORE
Empire 8 Semifinal Round (Best-of-3, Doubleheader, May 6-7) - UTICA WINS SERIES, 2-1
GAME 1 – #2 Utica College defeated #3 Russell Sage College, 12-0 – BOX SCORE
GAME 2 – #3 Russell Sage College defeated #2 Utica College, 4-1 – BOX SCORE
GAME 3 – #2 Utica College defeated #3 Russell Sage College, 11-7 – BOX SCORE
Empire 8 Championship Round (Best-of-3, Doubleheader Friday, May 13, If Necessary, Deciding Game Saturday, May 14 or Sunday, May 15
GAME 1 – #2 Utica College at #1 St. John Fisher College – TBA
GAME 2 – #2 Utica College at #1 St. John Fisher College – TBA
GAME 3 – #2 Utica College at #1 St. John Fisher College (if necessary) – TBA