PITTSFORD, N.Y. – For the third time in its history and for the first time since 2011, the nationally-ranked St. John Fisher College baseball team won the Empire 8 Championship after sweeping both ends of a doubleheader against third-seeded Utica College on Friday afternoon at Dugan Yard. With the wins, Fisher, which is ranked 23rd in the latest D3baseball.com has earned the conference's automatic berth into the NCAA Division III Championship, which is slated to begin next week and closed out the day at 31-5 overall.
Fisher, which will be making its sixth overall appearance in the national tournament and first since 2017, will find out who and where it will be playing during the NCAA Selection Show, which is scheduled to air at 11:59 p.m. on Sunday night. To watch the show live, please visit ncaa.com.
Shortstop Justin Graham was named the tournament's Most Valuable Player after going 13-for-20 (.650) with four doubles, a triple, a home run, 11 RBI and 15 runs scored over four postseason games.
FISHER 21, UTICA 6
The Cardinals plated five runs in the bottom of the first including a three-run home run from Ryan Simmons and never looked back as Fisher added three more runs in the second and two in the fourth to hold a 10-run cushion.
Holding a commanding advantage, Fisher padded its lead in the fifth with five more runs on four hits before tacking on five more in the seventh to open up 20-1 edge.
Head coach Brandon Potter's team banged out 15 hits and had 19 RBI in the win with Simmons going 4-for-5 at the dish with a home run, two doubles and six RBI. Noah Campanelli had a triple as part of a 2-for-4 day to go along with two walks and three runs scored while Graham had two hits in four at-bats including a double and two RBI. Adam Zebrowski hit his Division III leading 18th home run and had five RBI overall in the win while Luke Duffy had two hits in the game with a walk and an RBI.
Graduate student Anthony Brophy remained perfect on the year as the North Tonawanda native moved to 8-0 after allowing just one run on six hits over seven strong innings. Brophy, who was named the National Pitcher of the Week on Wednesday, fanned six before giving way to Hunter Walsh who threw a scoreless eighth. Joseph Tronetti was tagged for five unearned runs over two third of a frame before Rylan Baker got the final out.
FISHER 26, UTICA 3
The Cardinals carried over their hot hitting into the nightcap with 23 hits including 10 that went for extra bases. After plating 12 runs in the first two innings, the Cardinals scored two in the fourth and six more in the fifth to put the game out of reach midway through.
Utica plated a run in the top of the sixth, but was unable to get off the field quickly in the bottom of the seventh as Brian Norsen delivered a two-run shot to make it 22-3.
From there, James Murphy homered in the eighth before Zebrowski plated a run and Duffy drove in a pair of his own to make it 26-3.
Graham was perfect at the plate for Fisher after going 5-for-5 with a double, a triple, two RBI, five runs scored and a walk. Duffy was 4-for-6 in the clincher with three RBI while Norsen pushed six runs across the plate as part of a 3-for-5 game. Zebrowski had three hits in seven at-bats while Murphy went 3-for-4.
RJ Kuruts picked up his Division III leading 11th win on the mound as the Forest City, Pa. native went six innings where he allowed three runs on 10 hits and finished with eight Ks. Alec Teska pitched the final three innings and scattered two hits to earn the save.