AUBURNDALE, Fla. – No. 19 nationally-ranked St. John Fisher baseball team earned both wins on Sunday as the Cardinals swept Saint Joseph's College of Maine at the Lake Myrtle Sports Complex as part of the RussMatt Central Florida Invitational. With the wins, Fisher improved to 5-0 on the year while the Monks slipped to 1-3 overall.

ST. JOHN FISHER 3, SAINT JOSEPH'S 1:

RJ Kuruts for the Cardinals dazzled over seven innings.  The righty scattered six hits and allowed one unearned run while finishing with seven strikeouts to his credit to nail down his first win of the season.

After scoring an unearned run in the top of the first, the Monks would give two back in the bottom of the second as the Cardinals mashed three hits in the frame. With two on and no outs, Fishers drove in a run with a groundout before the go-ahead run with an RBI-single to right to make it 2-1.

The game remained a one-run affair until the bottom of the sixth as Fisher tacked on one run with one hit to hold a 3-1 edge.  Following another leadoff two-bagger from Justin Graham, the senior shortstop would move up a base after the Monks dropped a popup to second that allowed freshman Brian Norsen to reach. With runners at the corners, Saint Joseph's sent one to the backstop as both runners advanced with Graham scoring on the play.

Holding a two-run cushion in the top of the seventh, Kuruts shut the door on the Monks after striking out the leadoff hitter before inducing a game-ending double play.

For the Monks, senior first baseman Drew Healey (Rochester, N.H.) was 2-3 and sophomore starter Matt Poff (Pelham, N.H.) took the loss after giving up two runs on six hits with four K's over five innings. 

ST JOHN FISHER 9, SAINT JOSEPH'S 2:

After leading 1-0 heading into the top of the fourth, Fisher got on the board with three runs on two hits to open up a two-run lead.  After retiring the first batter of the inning, the Monks yielded a walk before the next Cardinal who stepped in and mashed a two-run shot that cleared the left field fence. 

In the top of the fifth, Fisher put up another crooked number  delivering a rocket to right that resulted in a two-run triple to make it 5-1 before the Cardinal came around to score a run of his own on a wild pitch that made it a five-run game.

After a scoreless home half of the fifth, the Cardinals struck again in the top of the sixth when Graham doubled home a run before his teammate Norsen followed suit with a run-scoring double of his own to stretch the Fisher lead to 8-1.

Trailing by eight runs in the bottom of the seventh after a Fisher sac fly, Saint Joseph's would get a run back after a throwing error by the Cardinals' infield allowed a runner at third to advance.

For the Monks, senior left fielder Ben Gravel (Rochester, N.H.) and junior center fielder Hunter Richardson (Monmouth, Maine) both went 2-4 with a run scored and freshman starter Sam Jalbert (Mascouche, Que.) falls to 0-1 on the season after yielding three runs on three hits and four walks with a pair of strikeouts in four innings.

THANKS IN LARGE PART TO ST. JOHN FISHER SPORTS INFORMATION