PITTSFORD, N.Y. – For the second year in a row – and the fourth time in program history – the St. John Fisher College baseball team has been crowned Empire 8 Conference champions. The Cardinals, the top seed in the E8 tournament, swept the best-of-three series from second-seeded Utica University on Friday by scores of 14-3 and 9-2.
With the trophy in hand, the Cardinals secured an automatic berth in the NCAA Division III tournament. Fisher will find out more about its regional matchups on Monday, May 16, at noon during the NCAA.com Selection Show.
Michael Beimel received additional hardware on Friday evening, as the graduate catcher was tabbed MVP of the E8 Championship. In the title series against the Pioneers, Beimel batted .500 (5-for-10) with one double, four RBIs, and three runs scored.
St. John Fisher 14, Utica 3
While not indicated by the final score of either contest, both games were tense in the early innings. However, the Cardinals portrayed great resolve in both cases as they pulled away for convincing wins.
The early matchup got muddled in the third inning. With the Cardinals leading 2-0, Utica got back-to-back hits and took advantage of two Fisher errors to even the score at 2-all.
The Cardinals responded quickly and put up a four-spot in the bottom of the third. Nick Lemire and Brian Norsen produced back-to-back RBI singles to break the tie, before James Murphy drove them home with a two-run base knock.
Fisher then turned a comfortable 6-2 lead into a 12-2 rout with three runs in both the fourth and fifth. Norsen racked up two more RBIs with a two-run hit in the fourth. In the fifth, Ben Lavery and Noah Campanelli were able to race home on an error by the Utica third baseman.
Murphy added an exclamation point to the Game 1 victory with a two-run bomb in the eighth. The second-year infielder from Niskayuna, New York, led all Cardinals in the first contest with three hits and four RBIs.
Alec Teska rebounded from a slow start to last 8.0 innings in the longest outing of his collegiate career. Teska scattered two runs (one earned) on six hits while striking out one en route to his sixth win of 2022.
St. John Fisher 9, Utica 2
Once again, Utica put up a valiant fight in the early innings. This time, the Pioneers scored first and snagged a 2-0 lead in the top of the second. Fisher did its best to limit the damage to just a pair of runs despite facing a bases-loaded situation with only one out.
Connor McHugh fanned Michael Muentener for the second out of the inning before Joe Crossley beat out a slow roller to the left side of the infield, earning an RBI and doubling the Utica lead to 2-0. McHugh then caught speedy outfielder Shamariah McCullough trying to steal home, getting an easy out at the plate to end the frame.
The 2022 E8 Championship MVP, Beimel, jumpstarted the Cardinals in the third and fourth innings to begin the comeback. With Jimmy McCardle on second and Campanelli one first, the Fisher backstop laced an opposite-field two-bagger down the line in right, plating both runners and tying the score at 2-all in the home half of the third.
In the fourth, Beimel stepped to the plate with the bases loaded and logged the go-ahead RBI with a base hit that scored Evan Bowers. A pitch then hit Lemire in the ensuing at-bat to force home a run, before Norsen lofted a sac fly into center to make it 5-2.
Fisher's four remaining runs were all tallied in the sixth. Beimel earned his fourth RBI of the game with a base hit, followed by a bases-loaded, two-run single off the bat of Luke Duffy. Murphy added a sac fly of his own to reach the final score, 9-2.
Junior righty Ryan O'Mara moved efficiently through the Utica lineup in his 5.0 shutout innings. O'Mara came out of the bullpen in the fifth to relieve McHugh and struck out four without issuing a walk for his eighth victory of the spring.