Fisher awaits FSU, Brockport winner
Sports Information Department – 112 Dods Hall
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CONTACT: Jerry Reilly,
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Baseball
(GAME 3 BOX: BROCKPORT 5, CAZENOVIA 4)
(GAME 4 BOX: ST. JOHN FISHER 11, FREDONIA STATE 8)
FREDONIA, N.Y. -- Fredonia State will meet Brockport at 9 a.m. Sunday on the third and final day of the ECAC Upstate Baseball Championship at Ludwig Field.
The Blue Devils (26-11) will need a victory to stave off elimination. They were defeated 11-8 by St. John Fisher on a gusty Saturday afternoon. The game was also delayed for nearly 45 minutes by rain at the Brigham Road field.
Fredonia State outhit Fisher, 15-6, but fell victim to walks and errors. Senior right-hander Matt Saeva walked the first two batters and three in the first inning. All three scored as the Cardinals (21-17) led 4-0.
The Blue Devils rallied for one run in the first on an RBI single by Josh Melquist and two more runs in the second. Jordan Basile and Don Kirsch had run-scoring singles. The innings could have been bigger - the Blue Devils left the bases loaded in the first, and stranded two more runners in the second. They left 12 runners on base overall..
The Cardinals gained the upper hand with four in the fifth inning aided by three Fredonia State errors. Bryan Bongiovanni's two-run homer in the last of the fifth cut the Blue Devil deficit to 8-5, but Fisher quickly regained the momentum with three runs in the sixth off reliever Justin Nowak before Nowak settled down for three straight scoreless innings.
Josh Melquist had an RBI double in the Blue Devil sixth and Basile added an RBI single as part of a two-run ninth inning. Fisher reliever Andrew Van Slyke pitched the final three innings for the save in relief of starter and winner Dan Jurik.
Immediately after the completion of the game, tournament officials decided to postpone the start of the Fredonia State-Brockport game until 9 a.m. Brockport stayed alive earlier in the day and eliminated Cazenovia, 5-4.
James Joy pitched the first seven innings for the Golden Eagles (22-22) to get the win while Jordan Allen got the final three outs for the save. Jamie Rose and Joe Zaccardo (double) had RBI hits during a three-run Brockport fourth to erase a 2-1 deficit. Jason Michaels had three hits for the winners while Adam Coglitore had a homer and a two-run single for the Wildcats (22-17).