Score: St. John Fisher College 5 – Elmira College 2
Records: St. John Fisher (9-6, 1-0 E8), Elmira (5-7, 0-1 E8)
Location: Dunn Field – Elmira NY
 
Elmira, NY -- The Elmira College baseball team opened the Empire 8 Conference slate on Friday afternoon when it welcomed St. John Fisher College to historic Dunn Field for the first contest in the three-game series between the two programs this weekend. The Cardinals snagged the early leg up in the series, outlasting the Soaring Eagles 5-2 in a tight contest.
 
Pitching reigned supreme in Friday's opener, as Elmira's second-year righty Nick Sampogna '18 and Fisher's crafty southpaw Stephen Lewis locked in a fantastic duel on the mound. Both starters notched quality starts, working deep into the game to save the respective bullpens, which may prove critical considering the looming doubleheader tomorrow afternoon.
 
Both starters breezed through the first, but Elmira got the bats going to deal the first blow in the contest in the bottom of the second. Nate Hanner '18 got things going with a soft flare that dropped just inside the right field line for a one-out double. He advanced to third on a sacrifice bunt by Jack Thistle '18, before coming around to score on a hard single up the middle by Rey Colon '18.
 
The Soaring Eagles actually looked poised to potentially put up a crooked number in the inning. Brian Wehmeyer '16 followed the Colon single with a hump-back lined single into center to put runners on first and second. Cameron Heggie '18 rapped another line-drive single into center, but Fisher's Joe Simmons made an excellent throw to cut down Colon at the plate as he was attempting to score from second base. Elmira settled for the early 1-0 lead.
 
The advantage only lasted until the following half inning, as the Cardinals were able to scratch across a pair of runs. Sampogna put the first two runners on, allowing a leadoff double by Fisher's ninth batter Evan Ryan and hitting Cody Wiktorski with a pitch. Second batter Jack Trotman advanced the runners into scoring position with a sacrifice bunt, while Mike Roman dropped an RBI-single just under the glove of Elmira's Thistle who made an excellent diving attempt that resulted in a trap in right. Sampogna nearly escaped the jam without further damage, as he blew a high fastball past the Cardinals power-hitter Scott Eisenmenger; however, Fisher executed a double-steal with runners on the corners and Wiktorski crossed the plate to put the visitors up 2-1.
 
The Soaring Eagles put together a significant threat to the narrow Fisher lead in the bottom of the sixth. Dylan Bellinger '17 bashed a line-drive single to center to begin the inning, while a Conor Bawiec '18 followed with a slicing double to the left-centerfield gap to put runners on second and third with no outs. Unfortunately, Lewis had the answer for the Cardinals. The lefty hurler put together his finest sequence of the game, sandwiching a Thistle tap back to the mound with strikeouts of Hanner and Colon to extinguish the threat.
 
Sampogna was equally brilliant as the game stretched into the deeper innings. He stranded runners on the corners in the fifth, while he escaped another leadoff double by the Cardinals' Ryan in the seventh. The score line remained the same into the eighth inning when Fisher's Eisenmenger launched a rocket that cleared the centerfield fence to up to score to 3-1. Sampogna limited further damage in the inning, finishing an excellent eight-inning outing with a career-high seven strikeouts.
 
The Purple and Gold did not go down quietly, as the home side mounted another charge in the bottom of the eighth. St. John Fisher turned the ball over to Kevin Berge, who has been one of the conference's top relievers over the last few seasons. The Soaring Eagles promptly loaded the bases off the Cardinal submariner, as Bryce Plante '18 reached on a hit-by-pitch, while Bellinger and Bawiec followed with singles to load the bases. Berge neutralized the threat, inducing a ground ball from Hanner, which although was enough to push Plante across, turned into a double play. Thistle grounded out to second to leave the deficit at 3-2 entering the ninth.
 
The Cardinals gained some insurance of the Elmira bullpen, scoring a pair off of reliever Nick Cottone '19 in the top of the ninth. Colon led off the bottom of the frame with a double, but the rally did not materialize, as Fisher reliever Loukas Brigham retired the next three batters to collect his first save.
 
Inside the Box Score

• St. John Fisher outhit Elmira 13-to-10 in the contest.
• Elmira committed three errors, while Fisher was charged with two defensive miscues on the afternoon.
• Each team had four players post multi-hit games.
• Bellinger, Bawiec, Hanner and Colon each finished 2-for-4 in the contest.
• Bawiec, Hanner and Colon collected Elmira's extra-base hits, each bashing a double.
• Plante and Hanner scored the Elmira runs.
• Colon collected the team's lone RBI in the contest.
• Wehmeyer and Heggie each collected one hit.
• Sampogna went 8.0 innings, allowing 10 hits and three runs, while striking out a career-best seven.
• Cottone allowed three hits and two runs in his inning of work.

 
News and Notes

• With the loss, Elmira dropped its Empire 8 opener for the second straight season.
• Elmira falls to 1-4 against St. John Fisher all-time.
• With his 2-for-4 performance, Bawiec extended his hitting streak to 21 consecutive games dating back to last season.
• Bellinger also extended his hitting streak to six straight games.
• Sampogna continued to establish himself as rotation lock for the Soaring Eagles. He turned in his third straight strong outing, while he collected his second straight quality start. He has allowed only six runs over his last 20.0 innings of work.
• Sampogna set a new career high with seven strikeouts.

 
Up Next
The two teams will be right back in action tomorrow afternoon when the Soaring Eagles and Cardinals resume their series with a doubleheader at Dunn Field. First pitch of the opener is slated to begin at 1:00 p.m.