ROCHESTER, NY – Despite a great performance by the bullpen, the RIT baseball team (14-21, 8-12 Liberty League) dropped a pitcher-friendly 2-0 decision to St. John Fisher (29-8, 15-1 Empire 8) at Tiger Stadium on Wednesday afternoon.
 
Tiger relievers Brian Sheridan (Trumansburg, NY/Trumansburg), Mark Nozzi (Rochester, NY/McQuaid Jesuit), and Michael Campbell (Honeoye Falls, NY/McQuaid Jesuit) combined to pitch six shutout innings, while allowing just two hits. Sheridan relieved starter Jameson Moran (Geneseo, NY/Geneseo), the pitcher of record, to pitch three innings of one hit ball, striking out two batters. Nozzi pitched two innings, getting out of crucial jams in the seventh and eighth innings. Sheridan struck out a batter to throw a hitless ninth.
 
RIT recorded four hits against St. John Fisher, the first team receiving votes in the recent d3baseball.com/NCBWA polls. Zach Zabel (Clarence, NY/Clarence) recorded a hit, and stole two bases, his 50th and 51st in his RIT career. He is now 12 short of the all-time mark, set by Justin Smith from 2008-11. Zabel has 18 stolen bases on the season, just five short of the single-season record, set by CJ Bolorin (Rochester, NY/Rush-Henrietta) in 2015, Smith in 2009, and Matt George in 2008.
 
Will Gorman (Nassau, NY/Columbia), Jason Schulz (Liverpool, NY/Liverpool), and Dom Scialabba (North Brunswick, NJ/North Brunswick) also recorded a hit for the Tigers.
 
Nate Roethel went 3-for-3, and drove in a run to lead the Cardinals. St. John Fisher tallied a run in the opening inning, on a one-out sacrifice fly by Scott Eisenmenger, and on a Roethel single to center field in the third.
 
Jim Dawson stayed perfect for the Cardinals this season, pitching seven shutout innings, allowing four runs and striking out two batters for his eighth win. Loukas Brigham pitched a perfect ninth to record his seventh save.
 
The Tigers best chance to cut into the deficit was in the bottom of the sixth. After Zabel reached base with a one-out single, he easily stole second base, and Patrick Mylott (Aurora, OH/Western Reserve Academy) drew a walk. With Schulz at the plate, Zabel stole third to get the runners at the corners. Dawson then struck out Schulz, and forced Gorman to fly out to left field, to end the threat.
 
The Tigers will conclude Liberty League play, with four home contests against Bard, beginning on Saturday at 12 p.m. The Tigers will honor seniors Zabel, Sheridan, Taylor Hogan (Rochester, NY/Brighton), Brian Battaglia (Sliver Spring, MD/James Hubert Blake), Brandon Cohall (Cortlandt Manor, NY/Walter Panas), and Rory Little (Burnt Hills, NY/Burnt Hills-Ballston Lake) before game one on Saturday.