St. John Fisher athletics photo

SCHENECTADY, NY – St. John Fisher competed in the 2024 Empire 8 Baseball Championship Final against Utica and a big fourth inning helped catapult them to a 13-4 victory. The win secures the Cardinals four-straight conference title.

Fisher struck first in the first inning with Dominic Guccia singling and scoring Jackson Frey. The Pioneers responded with two runs of their own in the top of the second to secure their first advantage of the day. With the bases loaded in the third, Jake Crantz worked a walk that brought in the tying run, bringing the score to 2-2. After another Utica run, the Cardinals used a big five run fourth inning to take a stranglehold on the game.

With the bases loaded yet again, James Murphy drove all of the runs in with a double and was later brought in thanks to a Guccia single. A few batters later, Andrew Roman put the team ahead 7-3 with and RBI single of his own. The Cardinals continued to pad their lead with two runs in the fifth, one in the seventh and finally three more in the eighth. Norsen led the way with a 3-for-4 day scoring three runs and working two walks. Guccia was 2-for-3 with two RBI and a run scored. Ten total Cardinals recorded a hit.

On the mound, Fisher depended on a variety of arms. Benjamin Huckans earned the start and tossed 3.0 innings of three run ball, striking out three and walking two. Cam Kingsley was the first arm out of the bullpen an saw 2.0 innings of action, allowing just one run on three hits. Luke Horton followed, throwing 2.1 innings of scoreless baseball, giving up just one hit and one walk. The final 1.2 innings was split between Christian O'Brien, Tanner Frank and Anthony Lang.

The Cardinals will watch the NCAA Selection show on Monday, May 13 as they have earned an automatic bid into the tournament.