St. John Fisher and Utica Move into Winners Bracket After Day One Wins at 2023 Empire 8 Baseball Tournament

Baseball | 5/11/2023 8:03:44 PM

Top-seed St. John Fisher University (28-12) and No. 2 seed Utica University (24-13) won their opening games of the double elimination 2023 Empire 8 Baseball Tournament from St. John Fisher's Dugan Yard on Thursday, May 11. St. John Fisher defeated No. 4 Russell Sage (16-24), 8-3 in the opener, while Utica rallied from an early deficit to defeat No. 3 seed Houghton University (19-21), 15-8 in the nightcap.

Houghton and Russell Sage will meet at 9:15 a.m. Friday in game three, which will also serve as an elimination game. St. John Fisher and Utica will meet in the winner's bracket game four at 12:30 p.m. on Friday. The winner of that game will advance to the championship round, which is scheduled to be played on Saturday, May 13. The winning team of game three and losing team from game four will meet in a second elimination game 5 at 3:30 p.m. Friday

The complete tournament schedule is below, as all games will be played at St. John Fisher.

GAME 1 - NO. 1 ST. JOHN FISHER 8, NO. 4 RUSSELL SAGE 3
A four-run third inning helped set the pace as the top-seeded Cardinals went on to defeat Russell Sage, 8-3 in the E8 opener, played in a tidy 2:18.
 
With neither team scoring runs in the first two innings, Fisher went on to score four in the bottom of the third, withtout a base hit. Starting out the scoring, James Murphy walked, with Jack Migliore scoring. Next, Brian Norsen flew out to center field, with Noah Campanelli scoring. Right after, Dominic Guccia flew out to right field, with Nick Lemire scoring. Right as the inning was ending, Murphy scored on a wild pitch, Fisher leading 4-0.
 
In the bottom of the fourth, Ethan Perry added to the scoring with a homerun to left field. Keeping the momentum going, Guccia homered in the bottom of the fifth, bringing home Norsen. Fisher picked up their final run in the bottom of the eighth, with Guccia singling to right field, Murphy scoring. After nine innings, the Cardinals won, 8-3.
 
Starting for the Cardinals, Patrick McGuire pitched the first eight innings, needing just 98 pitches, while allowing five hits and two runs (one earned), while striking out four. McGuire allowed five hits and two runs, collecting the win and improving to a record of 8-0. Christian Maloney pitched the final inning, facing six batters, walking one, and allowing one hit and one run.

James Lubanski and Jared Russell had two hits apiece to lead the Russell Sage offense. Matthew Denatale took the loss, allowing three runs in two-plus innings. The Gators had four pitchers combine to throw the eight innings.

GAME 2 - NO. 2 UTICA 15, NO. 3 HOUGHTON 8
The Utica University baseball team held off third-seeded Houghton University in the first round of the Empire 8 Tournament with an 15-8 win on Thursday. 
 
Joe Crossley (Marcy, NY/Whitesboro) and Dom Fasolo (Whitesboro, NY/Whitesboro) powered the offense with six combined hits and eight combined RBI's. Crossley had three hits in five trips to the dish with five runs driven in while Fasolo drove him three runs while also going 3-for-5. Joe Battista (Gansevoort, NY/South Glens Falls) and Tyler Jennings (Liverpool, NY/Liverpool) each had a two-hit game and Steve Sclafani (North Massapequa, NY/Farmingdale) drove in a pair of runs. 
 
On the hill, Kooper Knabe (Cortland, NY/Cortland) picked up a no decision after allowing five runs, four earned, on eight hits over three innings. He also struck out three batters and walked one. Winning pitcher Jake Mangino (Sayville, NY/Sayville) tossed three frames and allowed two runs on five hits and a walk. Dylan Sullivan (West Orange, NJ/Columbia) finished the final three innings and allowed just one run on one hit and two walks with a pair of strikeouts en route to a save. 
 
The Highlanders jumped on the freshman Knabe early with three runs in the top of the first inning on a RBI single by Ian Slate and two-run double by Davis McMillan for an early edge. While Utica went silent in the home half, Knabe settled in to keep Houghton off the board in the top of the second. 
 
In the home half, the Pioneers jumped ahead thanks to a four run frame, all of which coming with two outs. The first two Utica hitters were retired before Brendan May (McGraw, NY/McGraw) worked a walk, Tyler Jennings (Liverpool, NY/Liverpool) was hit by a pitch and Micah Fiorello (Brooktondale, NY/Ithaca) got on due to catcher's interference to load the bases. Sclafani brought home a run on a walk while Crossley was hit by a pitch to bring home the second run. Fasolo followed with a two-RBI single to right for a 4-3 lead after two full. 
 
Houghton went on to score the next four runs of the game over the 3rd and 4th innings to go back ahead 7-4. However, the Pioneers responded back in the bottom of the fourth and fifth innings. 
 
A two-out error by Houghton in the bottom of the fourth allowed two more Pioneers to score to bring the team's deficit to one run before three runs scored for Utica in the fifth. Sclafani, Crossley and Fasolo were responsible for bringing the runs to let Mangino come back out to the mound in the sixth with a 9-7 edge. 
 
Mangino tossed a clean sixth before Sullivan entered in the seventh, also keeping the Highlanders scoreless. Battista paved the way for two more Utica baserunners to score in the bottom half before another four-run inning took place for the team in the eighth.
 
There, Crossley cleared the bases with a three-RBI double to the left field gap before coming home himself on a John Son (Mellville, NY/Half Hollow Hills) RBI groundout. 
 
With a seven run advantage, Sullivan put the game to an end in the 9th to keep Utica in the winners' bracket. 

Houghton out-hit Utica, 15-13. Slate went 4-for-5 with three runs scored and two RBI, while Sebastian Rodriguez was also 4-for-5. McMillan drove in three runs, while Chris VanCheri had a pair of hits. Hunter Kendall earned the start on the mound and struck out six batters over four innings, while walking five and allowed six unearned runs. Trevor Ciccotti took the loss, allowing four runs (one earned) over the next two innings of work.

Looking ahead to Friday, St. John Fisher won all three regular regular season meetings against Utica last weekend, while Houghton took two of three games from Russell Sage on April 29-30. Action begins at 9:15 a.m. Friday.