Baseball | 5/20/2023 10:19:35 PM
BALTIMORE, MD – The St. John Fisher University baseball team (32-13) used ninth-inning magic to rally from a pair of deficits against Penn State Altoona (20-27) and Randolph-Macon College (32-15) advance to the Championship round of the Baltimore Region on Saturday, May 20. The Cardinals defeated Penn State Altoona, 10-4 in the opener Saturday and came back to beat Randolph-Macon, 10-9 and eliminate both teams from regional competition.
The Cardinals will take on No. 1 Johns Hopkins from Babb Field at Strongberg Stadium at 11 a.m. Sunday. If St. John Fisher wins that game, a second winner-take all game will be played for the Regional Championship 45 minutes after the completion of the first game. Johns Hopkins would be the champion with a win in the opener Sunday. The Regional Champion winner would advance to the Super Regional series, which would take place May 26-28.
ST. JOHN FISHER 10, PENN STATE ALTOONA 4
St. John Fisher found themselves facing a 3-0 deficit in the bottom of the first inning and 4-0 in the second, as Penn State Altoona touched Cardinals starter Connor McHugh for seven hits and four runs. Russell Dunlap came in and saved the Cardinals season, scattering two hits and a walk over 6.1 scoreless innings.
The offense came alive in the top of the fourth inning, as a two-run home run by Brian Norsen and solo shot by Ben Lavery got Fisher to within one at 4-3.
The score would remain the same until the top of the ninth inning, when the Cardinals erupted for seven runs while facing elimination. Jake Crantz led off the ninth with a double and advanced to the third on a wild pitch. He would cross the plate on a single by Ethan Perry to tie the game at 4-4. The Cardinals would promptly load the bases with no outs after Jack Migliore was hit by pitch and Noah Campanelli walked. Back-to-back strikeouts threatened to derail the threat but Norsen would club his second home run of the game, a grand slam to left field to clear the bases and give Fisher an 8-4 lead. After Dominic Guccia walked, Lavery would match Norsen with his second homer of the day to complete the scoring.
Norsen drove in six runs to lead the Cardinals, while Lavery added three RBI. Dunlap would earn the win, his fifth of the season, while Christian Maloney pitched a scoreless ninth inning.
ST. JOHN FISHER 10, RANDOLPH-MACON 9
In what started as a pitcher's duel, Migliore's run in the third inning was the only scoring for either team after five innings, as Fisher starter Benjamin Huckans was rolling early. He would run into the trouble in the sixth, as four hits, including a home run, would plate three runs for the Yellowjackets and give them a 3-1 lead.
Nick Lemire led off the bottom of the sixth inning with a home run to cut the Randolph-Macon lead to 3-2. Randolph-Macon looked to have put the game away after scoring two runs in the top of the seventh inning and four more in the eighth to take a commanding 9-2 lead.
With potentially six outs left in their season, the Cardinals went to work. James Murphy led off the bottom of the eighth with a single, while Norsen also singled, moving Murphy to third. Guccia reached on a fielder's choice, scoring Murphy to make it 9-3. Lavery would slam his third home run of the day, a two-run shot to cut the Yellowjackets lead to 9-5. Crantz would continue the momentum with a single and would come around to score on a double by Perry to make it 9-6. Migliore walked to put runners on first and second before Noah Campanelli looped a single into right field to score Perry and cut the lead to 9-7. Lemire would walk to load the bases and Murphy followed with a walk to force in a run to get it to 9-8. The Cardinals would leave the bases loaded but entered the ninth down just a run.
A rain delay would attempt to slow the St. John Fisher momentum, but Anthony Lang would keep the Yellowjackets off the board, stranding two runners. In the bottom of the ninth, the Cardinals quickly loaded the bases with no outs, as Guccia walked, Lavery singled and Crantz walked. Perry, the 2023 Empire 8 Championship Tournament Most Valuable Player, continued his storybook month of May, ripping a single just over the bag and down the right field line to score Guccia and Lavery to give the Cardinals the walk-off win.
The Cardinals would out-hit Randolph-Macon, 13-12, as all nine offensive starters had at least one hit.
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.
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