Pittsford, NY---Russell Sage College's baseball team travelled to St. John Fisher College on Sunday afternoon for an Empire 8 doubleheader with the Cardinals. SJFC won the first game, 5-0 and took the nightcap, 11-2. SJFC improves to 22-11 overall and stands at 14-2 in the league, while Sage moves to 11-23 overall and is now 7-9 in the conference.
In the first game, sophomore Will Simkin (Canberra, Australia/Canberra Grammar) suffered the loss after working 5.1 inning allowing eight hits. He gave up four earned runs with a pair of strikeouts as he drops to 1-6. Graduate player Cameron Anderson (Clifton Park, NY/Burnt Hills) worked 2/3 of an inning in relief and struck out one batter.
Graduate player Dillon Maxon (Troy, NY/Tamarac) was 1-for-3 at the plate, while rookie infielder Christian Brown (Troy, NY/Troy) drew a pair of walks.
SJFC's sophomore infielder Nick Lemire (Ballston Lake, NY/Shenendehowa) was 2-for-3 with a double, a two-run homerun in the sixth and finished with a pair of RBI's.
Junior pitcher Connor McHugh (Latham, NY/Shaker) had the complete game shutout as he allowed just one hit in his seven innings of work and fanned five. He moves to 5-1 on the year.
In the night cap, Sage jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the top of the third inning on an RBI sacrifice fly by rookie Leandro Guzman (New Britain, CT/New Britain).
Fisher answered back with a pair of runs in the bottom half of the inning to take a 2-1 lead through three innings. In the top of the fourth rookie Diego Jimenez (Monroe, NY/Monroe Woodbury) had an RBI double to score rookie first baseman Andrew Knapp (Nanuet, NY/Nanuet) who reached on a lead-off single to open the top of the inning.
SJFC broke open the game with four runs in the bottom of the fifth inning to take the lead for good.
Jimenez finished with a 2-for-4 effort at the plate with a double and an RBI to lead the Gators, while Guzman was 1-for-3 with an RBI.
Rookie Griffin Snyder (Cheektowaga, NY/St. Joseph's Collegiate Institute) made the start working 3 innings with a pair of earned runs off four hits with two strikeouts and a walk. Right handed rookie pitcher Colby Phelps (Troy, NY/Tamarac) worked 1.2 innings, allowing two earned runs off four hits and suffered the loss as he is now 1-4.
SJFC's Ryan O'Mara (Rochester, NY/McQuaid Jesuit) moved to 5-0 after he worked six innings in relief, allowing just one earned run off five hits and struck out 10 Gators.
Looking ahead, the Gators will travel to Skidmore College on Wednesday, April 27 for a 4 p.m. non-conference game.
